Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Chester G. Stoda, age 32, from Black River Falls, Wisconsin, Jackson county.
Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 8th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas.
Date of death: Friday, September 2, 2011
Death details: Died from a non-combat related incident in an undisclosed location.
Source: Department of Defense, Legacy
Steven Robert Ott, age 20, from Black River Falls, Wisconsin, Jackson county.
Spouse: Teresa (McCormick)
Service era: Vietnam
Military history: Second Platoon Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Division
Date of death: Sunday, August 16, 1970
Death details: Died from a missle wound from friendly fire
Source: National Archives, Wisconsin State Journal (1970)
Vernon Glen Johnson, age 33, from Jackson County Alma Center, Wisconsin .
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Friday, January 26, 1951
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Sergeant Vernon Glen Johnson, who joined the U.S. Army from Wisconsin, served with A Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on December 1,1950, near Sonchu, North Korea, during his unit’s withdrawal from Kunu-ri. He was marched with a large group of prisoners to the Pukchin-Tarigol Valley, where he died of dysentery and pneumonia on January 26, 1951, while under the care of an Army doctor. Sergeant Johnson’s remains were not recovered. Sergeant Johnson is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Sheboygan Press (1951)
Donald D. Dupont, age 22, from Wisconsin, Jackson county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Saturday, December 2, 1950
Death details: On the evening of November 27, 1950, Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) launched a massive attack against the U.S. and United Nations troops stationed in the Chosin Reservoir area in northeast North Korea, resulting in a seventeen-day conflict that became known as the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. At the time of the initial CCF attack, members the U.S. Army’s 31st and 32nd Infantry Regiments were defending the area north of Sinhung-ni, on the east side of the reservoir. The defenders were overwhelmed by the numerically superior CCF, and on December 1, were forced to withdraw to friendly lines at Hagaru-ri. Chinese roadblocks from Sinhung-ni to Hagaru-ri along with the constant enemy fire from the surrounding high ground, made the withdrawal route extremely dangerous. Eventually, the column was broken into separate segments, which the CCF attacked individually. Many men were lost or captured during the moving battle, with survivors reaching friendly lines in Hagaru-ri on December 2 and 3. Corporal Donald Lester Dupont, who entered the U.S. Army from Wisconsin, was a member of Company B, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on December 2, 1950, during the withdrawal to Hagaru-ri, though specific details regarding his loss are unknown. He was never reported as a prisoner of war, and his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. He is still unaccounted-for. Today, Corporal Dupont is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Wayne H. Obrien from Wisconsin, Jackson county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Friday, July 17, 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 Wayne H. O’Brien entered the U.S. Army from Wisconsin and served in the 200th Coastal Artillery Regiment in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured following the American surrender and forced on the Bataan Death March before his ultimate internment at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp, where he died of diphtheria on July 17, 1942. 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 O’Brien is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Neil Stanley Lewison, age 24, from Jackson County Melrose, Wisconsin .
Parents: Nels Lewison
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, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Honolulu Star Advertiser (2016), , LaCrosse Tribune (1941)