Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Michael Lewis Mundell, age 47, from Brandenburg, Kentucky, Meade county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Headquarters, 1St Brigade, 108Th Division (It), Spantarburg, Sc
Date of death: Friday, January 5, 2007
Death details: Hostile; Fallujah, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
James Alexander Sherrill, age 27, from Ekron, Kentucky, Meade county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: 2113Th Transportation Company, Paducah Kentucky
Date of death: Sunday, April 3, 2005
Death details: Hostile; Bayji, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Schyler Watts, age 27, from Meade County Muldraugh, Kentucky .
Spouse: Bonnie Watts (1950-2003)
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Combs High
Date of death: Thursday, December 2, 1971
Cemetery: Big Spring Methodist Church in Big Spring
Source: National Archives, Louisville Courier Journal (1971), Meade County Messenger (2003)
John Douglas Hale, age 28, from Brandenburg, Kentucky, Meade county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, March 8, 1971
Death details: On March 8, 1971, an OH-6A Cayuse (tail number 67-16645) with two crew members took part in an armed reconnaissance mission over Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, along with two other helicopters.
During the mission, the helicopters received enemy ground fire, and this OH-6 was hit and crashed in the vicinity of grid coordinates YD 199 129, exploding on impact. One of the other helicopters made two attempts to examine the crash site, but on both attempts, the crew saw no sign of survivors before the helicopter was driven away by intense enemy fire. The enemy presence in the area prevented insertion of a ground search team, and both members of the crew were lost in the crash. First Lieutenant John Douglas Hale, who entered the U.S. Army from Kentucky, served with Troop B, 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He was the pilot of this OH-6 at the time of its loss. His body was not recovered and he remains unaccounted for. Today, First Lieutenant Hale is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Cemetery: Memorialized at Marve Bennett in Meade County
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com
Carl Sherman Curl, age 18, from Meade County Kentucky.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, November 30, 1950
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. Corporal Carl Sherman Curl, who, joined the U.S. Army from Kentucky, was a member of the Heavy Mortar Company, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He went missing in action during the fighting withdrawal from Kunu-ri on November 30, though specific details regarding his loss are unknown. Corporal Curl was never reported as a prisoner of war. His remains have not been recovered, and he was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Corporal Curl is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency