Lawrence county Illinois

Pinnick, Trevor A.
Army Specialist

Trevor A. Pinnick, age 20, from Lawrenceville, Illinois, Lawrence county.

Parents: Nancy Adams Pinnick and Thomas Pinnick
Spouse: Martha Johnson Pinnick
Children: Melody Renee Pinnick

Service era: Afghanistan
Schools: Lawrenceville High (2010)
Military history: 18th Engineer Company, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

Date of death: Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Death details: Died in Panjwa’l, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. Sgt. Joseph M. Lilly was also killed.
Cemetery: Memorial Park, Vincennes, Indiana

Source: Department of Defense, Duesterberg-Fredrick Funeral Home, grave marker

Sizemore, James Elmo
Air Force Major

James Elmo Sizemore from Lawrenceville, Illinois.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, July 8, 1969
Death details: James E. Sizemore of Lawrenceville, Illinois and Maj. Howard V. Andre Jr., of Memphis, Tennessee, were identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors on Sept. 23, 2013 at Arlington National Cemetery. On July 8, 1969, Sizemore and Andre were on a night armed reconnaissance mission when their A-26A Invader aircraft crashed in Xiangkhoang Province, Laos. Both men died in the crash but their remains were unaccounted for until April 2013. In 1993, a joint U.S./Lao People’s Democratic Republic team investigated an aircraft crash site in Laos. They recovered aircraft wreckage from an A-26. The team was not able to conduct a complete excavation of the site at that time. Twice in 2010, joint U.S./Lao People’s Democratic Republic teams conducted excavations of the crash site recovering human remains, aircraft wreckage, personal effects and military equipment associated with Sizemore and Andre. In the identification of the remains, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools, such as dental comparison which matched Sizemore’s records.

Source: National Archives, Mail online, Department of Defense

Smith, Harold Victor
Air Force Colonel

Harold Victor Smith from Bridgeport, Illinois, Lawrence county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, March 7, 1966
Death details: On April 14, 2000, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Colonel Harold Victor Smith, missing from the Vietnam War.

Colonel Smith entered the U.S. Air Force from Illinois and was a member of the 469th Tactical Fighter Squadron. On March 7, 1966, he was the pilot of an F-105D Thunderchief (serial number 62-4410) on a combat mission over North Vietnam. While engaged with an enemy target, Col Smith’s aircraft was shot down and he was killed, but recovery efforts for his remains were unsuccessful. In 1998, the U.S. recovered remains that in 2000, were identified as those of Col Smith.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Heath, Leslie Ray
Army Corporal

Leslie Ray Heath, age 18, from Bridgeport, Illinois, Lawrence county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Saturday, June 30, 1951
Death details: On May 9, 2005, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Corporal Leslie Ray Heath, missing from the Korean War. Corporal Heath joined the U.S. Army from Illinois and was a member of A Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Regimental Combat Team, 24th Infantry Division. On April 23, 1951, he was captured by Chinese Communist Forces, along with eighty other members of his unit. CPL Heath was taken to the Suan POW Camp Complex in North Korea, where he died in June 1951. He was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody immediately after the conflict’s ceasefire. On July 16, 1993, the North Korean government returned seventeen boxes of remains from the Korean War to the U.S. One of these boxes contained several sets of remains and two of CPL Heath’s identification tags. Forensic analysis eventually identified CPL Heath from among these remains. Corporal Heath is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Cemetery: Buried in 2005 in Bridgeport, Illinois

Source: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Douglas County Herald (2005)

Schrader, Frederick Rutherford
Navy Commander

Frederick Rutherford Schrader, age 31, from Lawrenceville, Illinois, Lawrence county.

Spouse: Lucile Coleman Schrader

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Friday, October 13, 1944
Death details: On September 27, 2022, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Commander Frederick Rutherford Schrader, missing from World War II. Commander Frederick R. Schrader entered the U.S. Navy from California. He was the commander of Air Group 11, embarked aboard the USS Hornet (CV-12) during World War II. On October 13, 1944, he took off from the Hornet piloting an F6F-5 Hellcat (Bureau Number 58192) as the leader of a group of 12 Hellcats on a strike mission against Japanese installations and facilities on Formosa. While making a strafing run over an enemy seaplane base, CDR Schrader’s aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire, causing it to crash in shallow water. CDR Schrader was killed in the incident. Because the crash occurred in enemy-controlled territory, immediate search efforts could not be attempted. On February 14, 1946, American Graves Registration Services (ARGS) personnel recovered a set of unidentified remains from Rinpen Public Graveyard in Takao Province, Formosa, near the seaplane base where CMD Schrader was shot down. The AGRS concluded that the individual must have been a Hellcat pilot involved in the air raids on the area but could not identify him. The remains were later interred as an unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In August 2022, research by an independent researcher and the DPAA led to the disinterment of the remains for further study. The laboratory analyses and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established the remains as those of CMD Schrader.
Cemetery: Punchbowl (2923)

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Adams, Richard Lee
Navy Seaman 2nd class

Richard Lee Adams from Lawrence County Lawrenceville, Illinois .

Parents: Dorothy May Adams Fiscus

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Sunday, March 1, 1942
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Houston when the ship was attacked traveling from Batavia to Java.
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery

Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, USSHouston.org, Daily Republican Register (1946)

Back To Top