Nevada Nevada

Harrison, Francis Eugene
Army Private

Francis Eugene Harrison from Nevada, Eureka 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 Francis Eugene Harrison entered the U.S. Army from Nevada and served with Company G, 2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He went missing in action on July 16, during the Battle of Kum River, following his unit’s attempt to withdraw around an enemy roadblock outside Taejon. Although PFC Harrison was never officially reported as a prisoner of war (POW), the name “Harrison” appeared on holding camp blackboards found along the route that POWs from this battle were often marched, indicating he may have been a captive at one time. PFC Harrison was not returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire, and his remains were not identified among those returned to the U.S. following the conflict. Today, Private First Class Harrison is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Ashton, Henry
Army 1st lieutenant

Henry Ashton, age 34, from Nevada, Lincoln county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Monday, August 24, 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 and food and water supplied 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. First Lieutenant Henry Ashton entered the U.S. Army from Nevada and served with Battery F of the 24th Field Artillery Regiment (Philippine Scouts) in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender and died of dysentery on August 24, 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, First Lieutenant Ashton is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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