Muhlenberg County Kentucky

Harper, Howard Ray
Army Private 1st class

Howard Ray Harper from Kentucky, Muhlenberg county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 30, 1950
Death details: On November 27, 1950, the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), tasked with replacing the 5th Marine Regiment on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir, arrived at the P’ungnyuri Inlet. That night, Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) launched a surprise attack against the 31st RCT. Although the Chinese were numerically superior, the 31st RCT managed to repel the initial attack. The CCF attacked again on the night of November 28, and late on the morning of November 29 the men occupying the northernmost perimeter conducted a fighting withdrawal to consolidate with the rest of the RCT in the perimeter south of the P’ungnyuri Inlet. The CCF continued their attacks on the consolidated perimeter, and on the night of November 30, the Chinese launched a massive attack. On December 1, the 31st RCT began to withdraw from the P’ungnyuri Inlet to Hagaru-ri. Heavy fighting occurred during the withdrawal and many more men were lost. Remnants of the 31st RCT began arriving at Hagaru-ri on December 2. The CCF then attacked the village, and the 31st began to withdraw to Hamhung on December 6, 1950. Private First Class Howard Ray Harper, who joined the U.S. Army from Kentucky, served with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 31st Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was killed in action during the CCF counterattacks on November 30, 1950, and the 31st RCT was forced to withdraw from the area before they could recover his remains. He was not identified among the remains returned to U.S. custody after the war, and is still unaccounted for. Today, Private First Class Harper is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Vincent, Robert L.
Army Private 1st class

Robert L. Vincent, age 23, from Muhlenberg County Central City, Kentucky .

Parents: Edgar Vincnet
Spouse: Junita N. Vincent

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Saturday, July 1, 1944
Death details: The siege of Myitkyina was an engagement during the Burma Campaign of World War II, which was a battle for the strategic airfield and village of Myitkyina, Burma, and occurred from May to August 1944. Allied troops, led by Merrill’s Marauders (later designated the 475th Infantry Regiment) and supported by elements of the Chinese Army, attacked a much larger Japanese force at Myitkyina. While the airfield was seized within days, it proved more difficult to force the Japanese out of the village of Myitkyina. For more than ten weeks, the Japanese Army played a defensive strategy before slowly abandoning the village, by river and at night.Tropical diseases such as scrub typhus, cerebral malaria, amoebic dysentery and skin fungus contributed significantly to nearly 300 U.S. casualties during the campaign. Soldiers who died at Myitkyina were buried in makeshift graves near the village. These graves rapidly reverted back into the jungle after the campaign, making it exceedingly difficult for American Graves Registration personnel to locate and recover them after the war.
Private First Class Robert L. Vincent, who joined the U.S. Army from Kentucky, served with the 475th Infantry Regiment in the China-India-Burma Theater. He died on July 1, 1944, in the midst of the battle for Myitkyina, and records provide no further information on the specific circumstances surrounding his death. His remains could not be recovered after the war. Today, Private First Class Vincent is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, The Messenger (1944)

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