John D. Loftis, age 44, from Paducah, Kentucky, McCracken county.
Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 866th Air Expeditionary Squadron, Kabul, Afghanistan.
Date of death: Saturday, February 25, 2012
Death details: Died from wounds received during an attack at the Interior Ministry, Kabul, Afghanistan.
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Christopher Todd Heflin, age 26, from Paducah, Kentucky, Mccracken county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Hqbn, (K Co, 3D Bn, 1St Mar, Rct-1, 1St Mardiv), 2D Mardiv, Camp Lejeune, Nc
Date of death: Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Death details: Hostile; Fallujah, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Ralph Edward McElrath, age 20, from Paducah, Kentucky, McCracken county.
Parents: Charles McElrath
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Lone Oak High (1969)
Date of death: Monday, July 26, 1971
Death details: Drowned in South Vietnam
Cemetery: Mount Kenton
Source: National Archives, Paducah Sun (1971)
Rubert Gregory Humphreys from Paducah, Kentucky, McCracken county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Thursday, August 20, 1970
Source: National Archives
William Franklin McDaniel, age 20, from Kentucky, McCracken county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Wednesday, November 29, 1950
Death details: On November 29, 1950, men from Company G of the U.S. 1st Marine Regiment, MP Company and Tank Company, 1st Marine Division, Company B and elements of Company D of the 31st Infantry Regiment, Headquarters Company of the X Corps, and Royal Marines from Number 41 Independent Commando Battalion were sent north from Koto-ri to open the main supply route to Hagaru-ri and resupply and reinforce Allied troops that had been surrounded near the Chosin Reservoir. The group, known as Task Force Drysdale, set out with tanks and other vehicles in the lead and rear, and initially only met light resistance from Chinese Communist Forces (CCF). As attacks increased in ferocity, the group became fragmented as the CCF managed to establish road blocks that further split the task force. Soon, the CCF blew a bridge and halted the convoy altogether. The Royal Marines and most of Company G were north of the bridge at this time and were able to continue to Hagaru-ri. Near the south end of the convoy, a destroyed truck blocked the road. The tanks and troops south of the destroyed truck fought as long as possible before ultimately returning to Koto-ri on November 30. The men between the blown bridge and the destroyed truck, however, were trapped, and subjected to several mortar barrages before CCF moved into hand-to-hand combat range. Fighting raged there until the morning of November 30, when the survivors were forced to surrender. Over 300 troops were wounded, captured, or died during the action. Sergeant William Franklin McDaniel entered the U.S. Army from Kentucky and served in Headquarters Company, X Corps. He went missing during Task Force Drysdale’s drive from Koto-ri to Hagaru-ri, though specific details regarding his loss are unknown. No one saw him fall, and there is no evidence suggesting he was ever alive in enemy hands. Attempts following the war to recover or identify his remains were unsuccessful. Today, Sergeant McDaniel is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
William T. Carneal, age 24, from Kentucky, McCracken county.
Parents: Mother died when he was 1; father died when he was 7
Service era: World War II
Schools: Health High (1939)
Date of death: Friday, July 7, 1944
Death details: On January 21, 2014, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Private First Class William T. Carneal, missing from World War II. Private First Class Carneal, who joined the U.S. Army in Kentucky, was a member of Company D, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division. On July 7, 1944, his unit was fighting on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands when Japanese forces launched a massive banzai attack. PFC Carneal was killed by enemy fire as enemy forces broke through the American lines. The active battlefield prevented the recovery of his body at the time, and recovery efforts on Saipan conducted immediately after the war were unable to locate his remains. In 2013, a private archaeological company unearthed human remains while performing an excavation on the northern coastline of Saipan Island. U.S. analysts were able to successfully identify these remains as those of PFC Carneal.
Cemetery: Palestine United Methodist Church, West Paducah
Source: National Archives, Courier Journal, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com
William G. Tuck, age 21, from Kentucky, McCracken county.
Service era: World War II
Military history: 16 Army Air Force
Date of death: Monday, November 9, 1942
Death details: Killed in action
Cemetery: Zachary Taylor National
Source: National Archives, grave marker
Henry E. Jordan from Kentucky, McCracken county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, July 4, 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. Private First Class Henry E. Jordan joined the U.S. Army Air Forces from Kentucky and was a member of the 2nd Observation Squadron in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender on April 9, 1942, and died of dysentery and cerebral malaria on July 4, 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, Private First Class Jordan is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Hal Jake Allison, age 21, from Paducah, Kentucky, McCracken county.
Parents: Henry Neal and Opal M. Allison
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Oklahoma. Accounted for October 14, 2021
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial
Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Owensboro Messenger (1950)
Willie Morris, age 30, from McCracken County Gaine, Kentucky .
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Tuesday, September 17, 1918
Death details: Died of disease
Source: Soldiers of the Great War