Thomas Herbert Smith, age 20, from Markesan, Wisconsin, Green Lake county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, November 1, 1968
Death details: Among 23 American sailors killed aboard the LST Westchester County when it was ripped open by an enemy mine as she swung at anchor in the My Tho River near Saigon.
Cemetery: Markesan Memorial
Source: National Archives, virtualwall.org
William J. Wells, age 29, from Wisconsin, Green Lake county.
Service era: World War II
Military history: 200 Coast Artillery Regiment
Date of death: Saturday, November 28, 1942
Death details: Following the Allied surrender on the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, the Japanese began the forcible transfer of American and Filipino prisoners of war to various prison camps in central Luzon, at the northern end of the Philippines. The largest of these camps was the notorious Cabanatuan Prison Camp. At its peak, Cabanatuan held approximately 8,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war that were captured during and after the Fall of Bataan. Camp overcrowding worsened with the arrival of Allied prisoners who had surrendered from Corregidor on May 6, 1942. Conditions at the camp were poor, with food and water extremely limited, leading to widespread malnutrition and outbreaks of malaria and dysentery. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, approximately 2,800 Americans had died at Cabanatuan. Prisoners were forced to bury the dead in makeshift communal graves, often completed without records or markers. As a result, identifying and recovering remains interred at Cabanatuan was difficult in the years after the war. Private First Class William J. Wells joined the U.S. Army from Wisconsin and served with the 200th Coast Artillery Regiment in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured following the Allied surrender and forced on the Bataan Death March. He was ultimately interned at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province, where he died of dysentery on November 28, 1942. PFC Wells was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs; however, his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan after the war. Today, Private First Class Wells is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Keefe Richard Connolly, age 19, from Markesan, Wisconsin, Green Lake county.
Parents: Richard James Connolly
Service era: World War II
Date of death: December 7, 1941
Death details: On February 11, 2021, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Hospital Apprentice Third Class Keefe Richard Connolly, missing from World War II.
Hospital Apprentice Connolly joined the U.S. Navy from Wisconsin. He was stationed aboard the USS Oklahoma on December 7, 1941, when the ship came under attack from Japanese forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Oklahoma capsized during the attack, and HA1 Connolly was killed in the incident. His remains were recovered from the ship following the attack; however, they could not be identified at the time, and were buried as unknown remains at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 2015, the DPAA received authorization to reexamine unknown remains associated with the Oklahoma using new forensic techniques. HA1 Connolly’s remains were exhumed and identified as part of this effort.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Keefe Richard Connolly, age 19, from Green Lake County Markesan, Wisconsin .
Parents: Richard James Connolly
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives, Los Angeles Times (1942)
Joseph Gebert from Green Lake County Princeton, Wisconsin .
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Tuesday, August 13, 1918
Death details: Killed in action
Source: Soldiers of the Great War