Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Melvin Daryl Quinn, age 22, from Merced, California, Merced county.
Parents: Wilma M. Glassner
Spouse: Patricia Quinn
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, April 1, 1970
Death details: Died of wounds received in action
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Joseph Lee Heflin, age 21, from California, Merced county.
Parents: Mrs. Myrile Yarbrough
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: During the last week of October 1950, Republic of Korea (ROK) Army forces under the control of the U.S. Eighth Army were advancing deep in North Korean territory, approaching the Yalu River on the Chinese-Korean border. Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) struck back in a surprise attack, engaging the ROK 1st and 6th Divisions near Unsan, some sixty miles north of Pyongyang. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, with the 8th Cavalry Regiment in the lead, was rushed forward to reinforce the ROK units in the Unsan area. On November 1, the regiment’s 1st Battalion took up positions north of Unsan, while the 2nd Battalion moved to guard the Nammyon River valley west of town, and the 3rd Battalion was placed in reserve at the valley’s southern end. Sergeant First Class Joseph Lee Heflin joined the U.S. Army from California and was a member of Company E of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 1, 1950, Company E was in defensive positions with the 2nd Battalion near Unsan when it came under heavy attacks and was forced to withdraw. Sergeant First Class Heflin went missing during this action, though circumstances surrounding his loss are unknown. He was never reported as a prisoner of war, and he was not identified among any remains returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Sergeant First Class Heflin is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Chico Enterprise Record (1954)
Chester A. Carey from California, Merced county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Wednesday, December 22, 1943
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. Technician Fifth Grade Chester A. Carey entered the U.S. Army from California and served with the Quartermaster Corps, Philippine Department on Luzon Island during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender and died of tuberculosis and dysentery on December 22, 1943 at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province. He was buried in an isolated grave in the camp cemetery; however, his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan after the war. Today, Technician Fifth Grade Carey is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency