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Lundin, John Charles
Army Sergeant 1st class

John Charles Lundin, age 38, from North Dakota, Golden Valley county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Saturday, April 25, 1970
Death details: Killed in Vietnam
Cemetery: Fort Riley Post in Kansas

Source: National Archives, findagrave.com

Gohl, Lavern Paul
Army Private

Lavern Paul Gohl from North Dakota, Williams 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 Lavern Paul Gohl entered the U.S. Army from North Dakota and served with Company G, 2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured during the Battle of Kum River on July 16, 1950, while attempting to break through an enemy road block south of Taejon. He was marched to various prisoner holding camps in North Korea and eventually died of exhaustion on October 21, near Kosan. His burial location was not recorded, and his remains were not recovered or identified after the war. Today, Private First Class Gohl is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Steckler, Clarence H.
Army Technician 5

Clarence H. Steckler from North Dakota, Stutsman county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Thursday, December 14, 1944
Death details: The Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, one of the bloodiest conflicts of World War II, was fought between Allied and German forces from September 1944 to February 1945. As U.S. forces advanced eastward into Germany, the defending Germans manned “Siegfried Line” positions opposite the Belgian border. The battle grew to involve approximately 200,000 troops, with tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. American forces initially entered the area seeking to block German reinforcements from moving north toward the fighting around Aachen, the westernmost city of Germany, near the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. In the battle’s second phase and as part of the Allied’s larger offense toward the Rhine River, U.S. troops attempted to push through the forest to the banks of Roer River. Aided by bad weather and rough terrain, German forces in the Hürtgen Forest put up unexpectedly strong resistance due to a well-prepared defense. American forces were unable to break through to the Rur before the German Ardennes offensive struck in December 1944, known as the Battle of the Bulge, which halted the eastward Allied advance until February 1945. Technician Fifth Grade Clarence H. Steckler, who joined the U.S. Army from South Dakota, served with Company A, 709th Tank Battalion, 3rd Armored Division. On December 14, 1944, during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, the 709th Tank Battalion was preparing to attack German positions in the town of Kesternich in conjunction with an advance from elements of the 309th and 310th Infantry Regiments later that day. Thick drifts of snow and enemy minefields stalled the 709th’s advance, and the unit was hit by enemy shells, causing one tank from the 709th to catch fire. Technician Fifth Grade Steckler was presumably killed in the engagement, but his remains could not be located following the incident. Further attempts to locate them after the war were unsuccessful, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Technician Fifth Grade Steckler is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Hombourg, Belgium.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Alexander, Robert L.
Army Private 1st class

Robert L. Alexander from North Dakota, Renville county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Friday, July 7, 1944
Death details: On June 21, 2022, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private First Class Robert L. Alexander, missing from World War II. Private First Class Alexander entered the U.S. Army from North Dakota and served with Company A, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division. On July 7, 1945, he was killed in action during the Battle of Saipan as his unit defended against a Japanese attack in the area of Tanapag. PFC Alexander’s remains were not recovered or identified following his loss. In 2019, the DPAA disinterred a set of unidentified remains that had been recovered from Saipan and buried at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines. The remains were accessioned into the DPAA laboratory, where they were identified as those of PFC Alexander.
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial

Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Belcheff, Teddy
Army Private

Teddy Belcheff, age 25, from North Dakota, Benson county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Saturday, June 20, 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. Private Teddy Belcheff joined the U.S. Army Air Forces from North Dakota and served in the 16th Bombardment Squadron, 27th Bombardment Group in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender and died of cerebral malaria on June 20, 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, Private Belcheff is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Manila American

Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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