Howard Hadden Dean from Harrodsburg, Kentucky, Mercer county.
Parents: Howard H. Dean
Spouse: Judy
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, January 26, 1970
Death details: Bronze Star
Source: National Archives, Montana Standard (1970)
John Bethel Tapp, age 32, from Mercer County Harrodsburg, Kentucky .
Parents: Gertrude Tapp Gaskin and preceded in death by L. A. Tapp
Spouse: Margaret (Gortney)
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, March 23, 1966
Death details: Lieutenant Commander John Bethel Tapp entered the U.S. Navy from Kentucky and was a member of Attack Squadron 93, embarked aboard the USS Enterprise (CVAN 65). On March 23, 1966, he was the pilot of an A-4C Skyhawk (bureau number 147738, call sign “Raven 302”) on a night armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. As LCDR Tapp returned to the Enterprise, he observed ground fire but reported no trouble with his aircraft. A routine visual check by another pilot flying the same mission also revealed no apparent damage to LCDR Tapp’s aircraft. However, soon after, radar and radio contact was lost with LCDR Tapp’s aircraft, and LCDR Tapp’s Skyhawk was not seen again. Search and rescue forces later located the crash site but could not locate any signs of LCDR Tapp, and he remains unaccounted-for. Today, Lieutenant Commander Tapp is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.
Source: National Archives, Courier Journal (1966), Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
George A VanArsdall, age 32, from Mercer County Harrodsburg, Kentucky .
Parents: Preceded in death by Riker VanArsdall
Service era: World War II
Military history: Enoura Maru; 192 Tank Battalion
Date of death: Friday, December 15, 1944
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 and food and water supplied 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 John D. Van Arsdale joined the U.S. Army from Washington and was a member of Company M, 31st Infantry Regiment in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender and died of malaria on June 26, 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 Van Arsdale is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, , Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Lexington Herald Leader (1945)
James William Montgomery, age 18, from Mercer County Harrodsburg, Kentucky .
Parents: William Montgomery
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Thursday, October 15, 1942
Death details: On October 15, 1942, he was in a U.S. convoy of six ships that was towing barges loaded with urgently needed supplies toward Guadalcanal. The American forces on that island were in dire need of resupply. When the convoy was spotted by enemy aircraft, all but two ships withdrew from the area. The two ships that pressed on were the USS Meredith (DD-434,) a destroyer, and the USS Vireo (AM-54,) a lightly armed towing vessel. Upon receiving word that Japanese surface warships were operating in the area, both ships were forced to turn back from their mission. Because of its age and slow speed, Vireo was abandoned, and the crew taken aboard the Meredith. Within minutes, the Meredith was attacked by a large force of enemy aircraft. The destroyer sustained multiple bomb and torpedo hits and quickly sank. The survivors spent three days at sea before being rescued. The majority of the crews of both ships was killed in the incident.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Associated Press (1942)
Lambert Ray Tapp, age 23, from Harrodsburg, Kentucky, Mercer county.
Parents: Leighman A. Tapp
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Arizona. Remains not recovered.
Source: National Archives, family, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Kentucky Post and Times Star (1941)