Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Charles Henry Meakins, age 20, from Austin, Minnesota, Mower county.
Parents: Doris Meakins
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Tuesday, August 25, 1970
Death details: Killed in Vietnam when a mechanical ambush device placed by a friendly force detonated.
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Daniel Keith Wilson, age 21, from Elkton, Minnesota, Mower county.
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Elkton High (1968)
Date of death: Monday, June 22, 1970
Death details: Hostile, died of wounds, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Minneapolis Star (1970)
Donald Eugene Riles, age 21, from Austin, Minnesota, Mower county.
Parents: Howard E. Riles
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Austin Central High (1967), Austin Vocational
Date of death: Saturday, May 16, 1970
Death details: Hostile, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Minneapolis Star Tribune (1970)
Richard Alan Matheis, age 20, from Adams, Minnesota, Mower county.
Service era: Vietnam
Military history: 35th Infantry Regiment
Date of death: Friday, May 8, 1970
Death details: Killed by friendly fire, Cambodia
Source: National Archives, 35th Infantry Regiment Association
Robert Stanley Block from Minnesota, Mower county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Sunday, July 16, 1950
Death details: On the evening of July 15, 1950, the U.S. Army’s 19th Infantry Regiment held defensive positions along the south bank of the Kum River. As dusk approached, North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) tanks appeared on the opposite shore and began firing on the U.S. positions. Although U.S. troops repulsed the attacks that evening, the next morning the NKPA crossed the river and launched a major attack against the 19th Regiment. As the regiment began withdrawing south to Taejon, the North Koreans pushed deep into their defensive lines and set up a roadblock en route to Taejon. When retreating American convoys could not break through the roadblock, soldiers were forced to leave the road and attempt to make their way in small groups across the countryside. Of the 900 soldiers in the 19th Infantry when the Battle of Kum River started, only 434 made it to friendly lines. Private First Class Robert Stanley Block entered the U.S. Army from Minnesota and served with Company A, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured on July 16, in one of the many rear-guard actions during the Battle of Kum River. After his capture, PFC Block was taken to Seoul where he was kept in a former Japanese schoolhouse. From Seoul, he was transferred to Pyongyang, where he was again held in a former schoolhouse, and was then moved again to Manpo. From Manpo he became a part of the “Tiger March” that departed for the “Apex” prisoner of war (POW) camps. En route, PFC Block became weakened and could not keep up, so was shot by a North Korean officer on or around November 4. His burial information is unknown, and he was not identified among any of the remains returned to the U.S. following the war. Today, Private First Class Block is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Rolan George Howard, age 27, from Mower County Austin, Minnesota .
Parents: Harry Rhoads Howard
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, Mason City Globe Gazette (1942)