Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Heath Allyn McMillin, age 29, from Canandaigua, New York, Ontario county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: 105Th Military Police Company, 27 Masten Avenue, Buffalo, New York
Date of death: Sunday, July 27, 2003
Death details: Hostile; Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Military Times
Reginald Owen Ziegler, age 39, from Port Gibson, New York, Ontario county.
Service era: Cold War
Date of death: Wednesday, April 19, 1989
Death details: Killed in accidental explosion aboard the USS Iowa just off Puerto Rico
Source: Iowa Daily Press, UPI
James Francis Saxby, age 24, from Holcomb, New York, Ontario county.
Parents: James E. Saxby
Spouse: Susan (Haberstroh
Children: Jennifer
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Bloomfield Central High, LeMoyne Univeristy of Syracuse graduate
Date of death: Sunday, November 29, 1970
Death details: Ten minutes after his departure from Phan Rang Air Base, the pilot started the descent to Cam Ranh Bay via a steep valley (3 km wide and 15 km long) at an altitude of 2,700 feet via heading 30°. Shortly later, ATC instructed the crew to change heading to 100° when contact was lost. The airplane struck trees with its both wings, stalled and crashed in flames in a dense wooded area located few km from Cam Ranh Bay Airport. Rescuers arrived on the scene five days later and found two men still alive while 42 other occupants were killed. At the time of the accident, the visibility was nil due to low clouds.
Cemetery: Saint Bridget’s
Source: National Archives, Daily Messenger (1970)
Douglas Harold Silvernail, age 21, from Bloomfield, New York, Ontario county.
Parents: Harold Silvernaill Jr.
Spouse: Rebecca Krtanick Silvernail (married two days before he went overseas in June 1970)
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Bloomfield Central (1967), Corning Community College
Date of death: Wednesday, October 7, 1970
Death details: Killed by a booby trap in South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Democrat and Chronicle (1970)
Todd Whitney Ottman, age 21, from Victor, New York, Ontario county.
Parents: James A. Ottman and Jane Hutcherson Cummins
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Victor Central High graduate, Oneonta State Univeristy
Military history: 196th Americal Division, Company B
Date of death: Friday, September 18, 1970
Death details: Hostile, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (1970)
Roy Edward Greenleaf, age 24, from Bloomfield, New York, Ontario county.
Parents: Elvin L. Greenleaf
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, March 16, 1962
Death details: Among 93 soldiers aboard a transport plane on a “secret mission” to Vietnam. Wreaths Across America in 2021: “Very little is known about what happened to the plane and its passengers, and due to the circumstance surrounding this mission, the names of those lost have not yet been added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.”
Cemetery: A memorial honoring the lives lost was dedicated in 2021 in Columbia Falls, Maine
Source: Atlanta Counstitution (1962), MauiNow (2021), UPI (1962)
Lyle Firman Yonge, age 18, from Ontario County New York.
Parents: Mary Ford
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, December 21, 1950
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Sergeant Lyle Firman Yonge, who joined the U.S. Army from New York, served with Headquarters, Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on November 30, 1950, as his unit was withdrawing from Kunu-ri to Sunchon, and marched with a group of other prisoners to the Pukchin-Tarigol Valley and then to Camp 5, Pyoktong, North Korea. His death was reported on December 21, 1950, however, it is unclear whether he died at Pukchin-Tarigol or at Camp 5, so his burial location is uncertain. His remains have not been recovered. Sergeant Yonge is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Democrat and Chronicle (1954)
George William Conklin, age 18, from New York, Ontario county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Sunday, December 3, 1950
Death details: On October 30, 2013, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Corporal George William Conklin, missing from the Korean War. Corporal George William Conklin entered the U.S. Army from New York and served in Company I, 3rd Battalion, 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), 7th Infantry Division. He was reported missing on December 3, 1950, following the 31st RCT’s fighting withdrawal to Hagaru-ri during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, but the specific details of his loss are not known. In 2004, a joint U.S. and North Korean team recovered the remains of American service members killed in the Chosin Reservoir area, and analysts successfully identified Corporal Conklin from among these remains.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Howard F. Gotts, age 23, from Seneca, New York, Ontario county.
Parents: F. N. Gotts
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, August 1, 1943
Death details: On June 24, 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant Howard F. Gotts, missing from World War II. Sergeant Gotts entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from New York and served in the 66th Bombardment Squadron, 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy). On August 1, 1943, SGT Gotts was the radio operator aboard a B-24D Liberator (serial number 42-24015, nicknamed “Wing Dinger”) when it departed Benghazi, Libya, to take part in Operation TIDAL WAVE, an attack on German oil refineries in Ploiesti, Romania. Over the target, “Wing Dinger” was hit by enemy fire and crashed. Two crew members bailed out and survived, but SGT Gotts and six other crew members were killed in the incident. Many who were killed on this mission were buried in a cemetery at Bolovan, Romania, and two crew members from “Wing Dinger” were identified from among remains recovered from this cemetery following the war. SGT Gotts’ remains were also eventually recovered from this cemetery but because they could not be identified at the time, SGT Gotts was instead interred as an “unknown” in the Ardennes American Cemetery. In 2017, DPAA personnel exhumed and analyzed this set of “unknowns” and using advanced forensic technology, successfully identified them as belonging to SGT Gotts.
Cemetery: Sand Hill in Seneca
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Carlyle Chester Everett, age 20, from Ontario County Canadatuga, New York .
Parents: Chester J. Everett
Service era: World War II
Schools: Canandaigua Academy
Date of death: Friday, October 31, 1941
Death details: Died in the sinking of the destroyer USS Reuben James
Source: Los Angeles Times (1941), Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (1941)