Anissa Ann Shero, age 31, from Grafton, West Virginia, Taylor county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: 15Th Special Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida
Date of death: Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Death details: 35 Miles East Of Gardez, Afghanistan
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Paul Francis Klug, age 26, from Grafton, West Virginia, Taylor county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, March 11, 1970
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Ralph Lee Shaw from Grafton, West Virginia, Taylor county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: During the last week of October 1950, Republic of Korea (ROK) Army forces under the control of the U.S. Eighth Army were advancing deep in North Korean territory, approaching the Yalu River on the Chinese-Korean border. Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) struck back in a surprise attack, engaging the ROK 1st and 6th Divisions near Unsan, some sixty miles north of Pyongyang. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, with the 8th Cavalry Regiment in the lead, was rushed forward to reinforce the ROK units in the Unsan area. On November 1, the regiment’s 1st Battalion took up positions north of Unsan, while the 2nd Battalion moved to guard the Nammyon River valley west of town, and the 3rd Battalion was placed in reserve at the valley’s southern end. Sergeant Ralph Lee Shaw joined the U.S. Army from West Virginia and was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, Company L was in defensive positions with the 3rd Battalion near Unsan, when it was hit by an enemy attack and forced to withdraw. Sergeant Shaw was captured during the withdrawal, though specific details are unknown. At the end of the war, returned Americans prisoners of war (POW) reported that SGT Shaw died of an intestinal parasitic infection in POW Camp 5 at Pyoktong. No specific burial information was recorded and his remains have not been identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Sergeant Shaw is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, UP (1953)
Howard Jr. Godwin, age 32, from Taylor County Grafton, West Virginia .
Parents: Estel May Godwin
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, July 20, 1950
Death details: On April 22, 2024, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Corporal Howard Godwin Jr., missing from the Korean War. Corporal Godwin joined the U.S. Army from West Virginia and served in A Company, 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. In July 1950, this unit held a defensive position near Taejon, South Korea. An offensive by North Korean People’s Army forces overran several American positions and forced U.S. troops in the area to withdraw. Cpl Godwin was reported missing in action on July 20, but the exact circumstances of his loss are unknown. On January 1, 1951, a set of unknown remains was recovered in the area where Cpl Godwin’s unit had been fighting. The remains were eventually interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. On July 15, 2019, DPAA personnel exhumed this set of remains for further study as part of a larger project to identify Korean War casualties. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established that the remains were those of Cpl Godwin. Corporal Godwin is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Beckley Post Herald (1954)
Emmett Leonard Kines, age 24, from Grafton, West Virginia, Taylor county.
Parents: Jocia M. Kines
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: On February 1, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) accounted for Private Emmett Leonard Kines, missing from World War II. Private Kines, who entered the U.S. Marine Corps from West Virginia, was a member of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division. On November 20, 1943, Private Kines was killed during the amphibious assault on Betio Island, as part of the Battle of Tarawa. He was buried in a Marine cemetery on Betio, though specific details regarding his loss and the burial of his remains were unrecorded at the time. Between 1946 and 1947, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company recovered remains from Betio, but Private Kines’ remains were not identified from among them. In 2015, the independent organization History Flight Inc., in partnership with DPAA, located a burial trench on Betio and recovered human remains there, and DPAA analysts used modern forensic techniques and identified Private Kines from among these remains.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency