Ingham County Michigan

Roberts, Richard Dean
Army Sergeant 1st class

Richard Dean Roberts, age 19, from Lansing, Michigan, Ingham county.

Spouse: Linda Roberts

Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Everett High

Date of death: Tuesday, March 25, 1969
Death details: On March 25, 1969, three members of the 4th Infantry Division were conducting a road interdiction mission in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, when their unit came in contact with an enemy force in the vicinity of (GC) YB 790 002. During the ensuing firefight, one member was seriously wounded and became unable to walk on his own. The unit pulled back and the wounded man placed on a litter and carried out. As the unit moved to high ground, it encountered enemy forces again and during this second contact, while moving down a hill, the three soldiers became separated from the group and were not seen again. On April 5, the area was searched by a reconnaissance team, which found personal items belonging to two of the missing men, but no additional remains or signs of the men were located. Private First Class Richard Dean Roberts entered the U.S. Army from Michigan and served with Company B, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. He was one of the three men who were lost during this action, and his remains were not recovered. After the incident, the Army postumously promoted PFC Roberts to the rank of Sergeant First Class (SFC). Today, Sergeant First Class Roberts is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com, Lansing State Journal (1978)

Estes, Walter O.
Navy Lieutenant commander

Walter O. Estes from Williamston, Michigan, Ingham county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: November 19, 1967
Death details: On October 25, 1977, the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii (CILHI, now DPAA) identified the remains of Lieutenant Commander Walter O. Estes II, missing from the Vietnam War.

Lieutenant Commander Estes entered the U.S. Navy from Michigan and served with Fighter Squadron 151, Carrier Air Wing 15. On November 19, 1967, he was the radar intercept officer aboard an F-4B Phantom II (bureau number 15-0997, call sign “Switchbox 110”) that launched from the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) as the lead of two on a mission over Hai Phong Province, North Vietnam. During the mission, his aircraft was shot down by an enemy MiG fighter. Lieutenant Commander Estes ejected from the aircraft before it crashed, but he did not survive the incident. An active enemy presence in the loss area prevented any search efforts, and his remains were not recovered at the time. In 1977, the Vietnamese government returned a number of human remains to U.S. authorities, and investigators were able to identify LCDR Estes among these remains.

Source: National Archives, Military Times, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Meirndorf, Bernard James
Army Private 1st class

Bernard James Meirndorf, age 20, from Williamston, Michigan, Ingham county.

Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Perry High (1965)
Military history: 35th Infantry Regiment

Date of death: Monday, October 9, 1967
Death details: Hostile, killed, South Vietnam
Cemetery: Hillcrest Memorial Gardens, Owosso

Source: National Archives, 35th Infantry Regiment Association

Hatt, Melvin Lewis
Army Sergeant 1st class

Melvin Lewis Hatt, age 36, from Lansing, Michigan, Ingham county.

Parents: L.W. Hatt
Spouse: Patricia Hatt
Children: Two daughters

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), Ironwood Daily Globe (1952), UPI (1962)

Carr, Baldwin Ronald
Army 1st lieutenant

Baldwin Ronald Carr, age 22, from Lansing, Michigan, Ingham county.

Service era: Korea
Schools: Lansing Sexton High (1946), Michigan State University (1950)

Date of death: Saturday, September 1, 1951
Death details: On April 25, 1951, elements of the 24th Infantry Division, including the 21st Infantry Regiment and the 5th Regimental Combat Team, which was attached to the division at the time, were dug into positions north of Seoul, South Korea, where massive Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) had regrouped after their previous attempts to penetrate the valley areas east of Seoul. The CCF launched a renewed offensive against these positions, and despite fierce resistance, could not be stopped. Full enemy divisions were committed in succession, passing around or through their own lines to engage severely outnumbered friendly forces. For several miles, a withdrawal by stages unfolded. Artillery and tanks covered movement after movement, using slight rises in terrain to their full defensive value. The U.S. units suffered heavy casualties and had many men captured during these successive rear guard actions. First Lieutenant Baldwin Ronald Carr entered the U.S. Army from Michigan and was a member of D Company, 6th Medium Tank Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. On April 25, while supporting this withdrawal, the tank he was riding in attempted to break through a roadblock but stalled and had to be abandoned. He was soon captured and held locally before being marched north with other prisoners of war (POW) to holding points. He was eventually held at “Pak?s Palace”, a POW interrogation center in Pyongyang, where he became mortally ill and died in late August of malnutrition. His remains were not recovered. Today, First Lieutenant Carr is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Battle Creek Enquirer (1951), South Bend Tribune (2009)

Shupp, Clayton C.
Army 1st lieutenant

Clayton C. Shupp, age 28, from Ingham County East Lansing, Michigan .

Parents: Clayton H. Shupp
Spouse: Married
Children: Judy and Robin

Service era: World War II
Schools: Michigan State College (1938)

Date of death: Tuesday, January 9, 1945
Death details: On December 13, 1944, Japanese forces in the Philippines began the transfer of 1,621 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) to Japan. The POWs were to make the journey aboard transport ships whose harsh conditions and extreme overcrowding led survivors to refer to them as “Hell Ships.” The ships also lacked markings that would distinguish them from any other military target, causing some of them to be attacked by Allied forces who could not identify them as POW transports. On December 14, 1944, Allied aircraft attacked the first ship, the Oryoku Maru, in Subic Bay in the Philippines, killing many Allied POWs who became lost in the water, sank with the ship, or were washed ashore. Survivors of the bombing were put aboard two other ships, the Enoura Maru and the Brazil Maru, to continue on to Japan. During the journey, while anchored in Takao Harbor, Formosa (present-day Taiwan), the Enoura Maru was attacked by Allied aircraft from the USS Hornet (CV-8), killing Allied POWs who were lost in the water, on board the ship, or on the nearby shore. Survivors of the Enoura Maru bombing were loaded onto the Brazil Maru, and reached Japan on January 30, 1945. As a result of these incidents, Allied POWs were lost in the Philippines, at sea between the Philippines and Taiwan, while anchored in Taiwan, at sea between Taiwan and Japan, and in Japan. The attacks on these POW transports ultimately resulted in a series of death notifications from the Japanese government through the International Red Cross (IRC), and some casualties were given up to five different dates of death at various locations during the transfer. Witness accounts from surviving POWs offer detailed information for a handful of casualties, but the specific dates of loss and/or last-known locations for many of these POWs are based on the most recent reported date of death. First Lieutenant Clayton C. Shupp, who joined the U.S. Army from Michigan, was serving in the 91st Coastal Artillery Regiment in the Philippines when World War II began. He was taken as a POW following the Japanese invasion and interned in the islands until December 1944, when he was put aboard the Oryoku Maru for transport to Japan. Records indicate 1LT Shupp was killed several weeks later in the attack on the Enoura Maru; however, these reports often involve information solely furnished by enemy governments, with some casualties given multiple dates of death. Future research may determine that these reports were inaccurate. 1LT Shupp’s remains could not be identified following the war, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, First Lieutenant Shupp is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Lansing State Journal (1943)

Parker, Robert
Army 1st lieutenant

Robert Parker from Michigan, Ingham county.

Service era: World War II

Parents: Earl C. Parker

Schools: Central High graduate, Michigan State college.

Date of death:  November 15, 1943
Death details: Accounted for in 2021. In November 1943, Parker was a pilot assigned to the 35th Fighter Squadron, 8th Fighter Group. On Nov. 15, he was piloting a P-40N Warhawk fighter on a patrol mission with seven other P-40s over the Markham River Valley, New Guinea, when his formation encountered a swarm of enemy aircraft on the southern edge of the Finisterre Range. After shooting down one enemy aircraft, Parker collided with another, the impact shearing a wing off of each. The P-40 crashed near Sagarak, and it was reported that he did not eject. After an aerial search of the area found nothing, Parker was declared missing in action. In November 1944, the War Department issued a presumptive finding of death.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Swartz, James W.
Army Sergeant

James W. Swartz, age 21, from Michigan, Ingham county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Wednesday, September 23, 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. Sergeant James W. Swartz entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Michigan and served with the 17th 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 malnutrition on September 23, 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, Sergeant Swartz is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

McLeod, Eugene P.
Army Sergeant

Eugene P. McLeod from Michigan, Ingham county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Sunday, July 19, 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. Sergeant Eugene P. McLeod entered the U.S. Army from Michigan and served with Headquarters Squadron of the 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 diphtheria on July 19, 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, Sergeant McLeod is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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