Brent A. McCreight, age 23, from Eminence, Kentucky, Henry county.
Service era: Gulf War
Date of death: Friday, December 21, 1990
Death details: Killed when a ferry capsized near Haifa, Israel.
Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Department of Defense
Harold Ray Spillman, age 22, from Eminence, Kentucky, Henry county.
Parents: Harold S. Spillman
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, September 13, 1970
Death details: Non-hostile death
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Troy Hillis Batterton, age 21, from Pleasureville, Kentucky, Henry county.
Parents: Hillis and Ileana Batterton
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, April 8, 1970
Death details: Killed in action in Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Louisville Courier Journal (1970)
Jerry Allan Kays, age 21, from Sulphur, Kentucky, Henry county.
Parents: Coy B. Kays
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, January 9, 1970
Death details: Died in Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Ernest Wilhoit from Kentucky, Henry county.
Service era: World War II
Military history: 26 Infantry 1 Division
Date of death: Saturday, November 24, 1945
Death details: The Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, one of the bloodiest conflicts of World War II, was fought between Allied and German forces from September 1944 to February 1945. As U.S. forces advanced eastward into Germany, the defending Germans manned “Siegfried Line” positions opposite the Belgian border. The battle grew to involve approximately 200,000 troops, with tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. American forces initially entered the area seeking to block German reinforcements from moving north toward the fighting around Aachen, the westernmost city of Germany, near the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. In the battle’s second phase and as part of the Allied’s larger offense toward the Rhine River, U.S. troops attempted to push through the forest to the banks of Roer River. Aided by bad weather and rough terrain, German forces in the Hürtgen Forest put up unexpectedly strong resistance due to a well-prepared defense. American forces were unable to break through to the Rur before the German Ardennes offensive struck in December 1944, known as the Battle of the Bulge, which halted the eastward Allied advance until February 1945. Private First Class Ernest Wilhoit, who joined the U.S. Army from Kentucky, was a member of Company G of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, and took part in the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest. On November 23, 1944, members of Company G attacked German fortifications in the vicinity of Schevenhutte, Germany. Following the assault, Private First Class Wilhoit was reported missing, though the exact circumstances of his loss are unknown. Hostile presence in the area inhibited search efforts at the time, and attempts to locate or identify his remains after the war were unsuccessful. Today, Private First Class Wilhoit is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten.
Cemetery: Unaccounted For
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Prentice E. Hundley, age 23, from Kentucky, Henry county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, September 17, 1944
Death details: Killed in action
Cemetery: Zachary Taylor National
Source: National Archives, grave marker