Thomas Edward Healy, age 20, from Kenton, Ohio, Hardin county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, June 8, 1970
Death details: Non-hostile, illness, Cambodia
Cemetery: Saint Mary’s in Kenton
Source: National Archives, Lima News (1970)
John A. Thomas from Ridgeway, Ohio, Hardin county.
Spouse: Dorothy E. Thomas
Children: Two children
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, March 16, 1962
Death details: Among 93 soldiers aboard a transport plane on a “secret mission” to Vietnam. Wreaths Across America in 2021: “Very little is known about what happened to the plane and its passengers, and due to the circumstance surrounding this mission, the names of those lost have not yet been added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.”
Cemetery: A memorial honoring the lives lost was dedicated in 2021 in Columbia Falls, Maine
Source: Atlanta Counstitution (1962), MauiNow (2021), UPI (1962), Cincinnati Enqurer (1962)
Clyde Eudean Whitaker, age 23, from Alger, Ohio, Hardin county.
Service era: Korea
Military history: 35th Infantry Regiment
Date of death: Monday, November 27, 1950
Death details: On November 27, 1950, B Company of the U.S. Army’s 35th Infantry Regiment, an element of Task Force Dolvin/Wilson, was holding a hastily erected defensive position near the village of Tong-dong, North Korea, when Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) attacked the company’s perimeter from two sides. After heavy fighting, the Chinese successfully infiltrated the American positions, forcing a withdrawal under heavy mortar and artillery fire. The U.S. troops pulled back to another position a mile farther south. Sergeant First Class Clyde Eudean Whitaker entered the U.S. Army from Ohio and served with B Company of the 1st Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was killed in action near Unsan on November 27 during the withdrawal from Tong-dong. His body was not recovered at the time of his loss, and he was not identified among the remains returned to the U.S. following the ceasefire. Today, Sergeant First Class Whitaker is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, 35th Infantry Regiment Association, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Franklin L. Jones from Ohio, Hardin county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Sunday, July 16, 1950
Death details: On the evening of July 15, 1950, the U.S. Army’s 19th Infantry Regiment held defensive positions along the south bank of the Kum River. As dusk approached, North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) tanks appeared on the opposite shore and began firing on the U.S. positions. Although U.S. troops repulsed the attacks that evening, the next morning the NKPA crossed the river and launched a major attack against the 19th Regiment. As the regiment began withdrawing south to Taejon, the North Koreans pushed deep into their defensive lines and set up a roadblock en route to Taejon. When retreating American convoys could not break through the roadblock, soldiers were forced to leave the road and attempt to make their way in small groups across the countryside. Of the 900 soldiers in the 19th Infantry when the Battle of Kum River started, only 434 made it to friendly lines. Private First Class Franklin Leland Jones joined the U.S. Army from Ohio and was a member of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured during the battle of Kum River on July 16, 1950, as his unit made its fighting withdrawal toward Taejon. He was marched north through various holding points before dying of exhaustion and dysentery while en route to Pyongyang, North Korea, in October 1950. His remains have not been recovered, and he remains unaccounted-for following the incident. Today, Private First Class Jones is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Wyman H. Langland from Ohio, Hardin county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Thursday, April 9, 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. Corporal Wyman H. Langland joined the U.S. Army Air Forces from Ohio and was a member of the 3rd Pursuit Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender on April 9, 1942, and died of dysentery and malaria on July 9, 1942, at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province. He 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, Corporal Langland is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Emmons Hastings from Hardin County Kenton, Ohio .
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Unknown
Cemetery: Brookwood American Cemetery
Source: American Battle Monuments Commission