Pennington County South Dakota

Lewis, Lex L.
Army Sergeant

Lex L. Lewis, age 40, from Rapid City, South Dakota, Pennington county.

Parents: Betty Lewis
Spouse: Molly Lewis
Children: Stepdaughter Ariel, 6

Service era: Afghanistan
Military history: 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado

Date of death: Friday, July 15, 2011
Death details: Died after injuries suffered July 15 when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire in Farah Province, Afghanistan.

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times

Pillen, Paul Jared
Army Chief warrant officer 2

Paul Jared Pillen, age 28, from Keystone, South Dakota

Service era: Iraq
Military history: Company A, 249Th Aviation, 18Th Aviation Brigade, Rapid City, Sd

Date of death: Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Death details: Salwa, Kuwait

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times

Welke, Joseph Tyler
Marines Lance corporal

Joseph Tyler Welke, age 20, from Rapid City, South Dakota, Pennington county.

Service era: Iraq
Military history: I Co, 3D Bn, 1St Mar, Rct-1, 1St Mar Div, Camp Pendleton, Ca

Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 2004
Death details: Died at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, of wounds sustained Nov. 19 in enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq.

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times

Soyland, David Pecor
Army cw3

David Pecor Soyland, age 26, from South Dakota, Pennington county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Monday, May 17, 1971

Death details: On May 17, 1971, an UH-1H Iroquois (tail number 65-17607) with four crew members took off from Camp Evans, South Vietnam, on a mission to extract a reconnaissance team that was under heavy enemy fire in an area northeast of Khe Sanh, Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. Upon approaching the landing area, the Iroquois began taking heavy enemy fire, and a rocket-propelled grenade hit and severed its tail boom. The Iroquois began banking right and started to turn over, and eventually crashed. After the impact, the aircraft continued to slide to the bottom of a hill in the vicinity of (GC) YD 048268. On May 18, a recovery team that was inserted into the area to recover the bodies of the original reconnaissance team searched the downed helicopter’s wreckage and discovered two crew members alive. The body of one of the other two unaccounted for crew members was also found; however, it was not possible to recover the remains at the time. Two of the four crew members remain unaccounted for.

Warrant Officer 1 David Pecor Soyland entered the U.S. Army from South Dakota and was a member of Company C, 158th Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne Division. He was the aircraft commander of this Iroquois and was lost during the incident. Attempts to recover his remains were unsuccessful. After the incident, the Army promoted WO1 Soyland to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CW3). Today, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Soyland is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Cemetery: Memorialized in Black Hills National

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

Kuster, Steven Mark
Army Staff sergeant

Steven Mark Kuster, age 21, from Rapid City, South Dakota, Pennington county.

Parents: Henry L. Kuster

Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Rapid City High (1966)
Military history: Special Forces Group, Airborne

Date of death: Saturday, February 7, 1970
Death details: Killed in Vietnam when the truck he was driving struck a land mine.
Cemetery: Black Hills National

Source: National Archives, Rapid City Journal (1970)

Eidsmoe, Norman Edward
Navy Captain

Norman Edward Eidsmoe from South Dakota, Pennington county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Friday, January 26, 1968

Death details: On November 3, 1999, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Commander Norman Edward Eidsmoe, missing from the Vietnam War.

Commander Eidsmoe joined the U.S. Navy from South Dakota and was a member of Attack Squadron 165. On January 26, 1968, he was the pilot of an A-6A Intruder (bureau number 152901) on a solo nighttime strike mission over Vinh Airfield in North Vietnam. The Intruder went down during the mission, and CDR Eidsmoe was killed in the incident. Adverse weather and enemy presence in the area prevented search and rescue efforts at the time. In 1998, a joint U.S. and Vietnamese search team recovered remains from a site associated with CDR Eidsmoe’s loss. In 1999, forensic analysis identified the recovered remains as those of CDR Eidsmoe.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Sprague, Stanley George
Air Force Major

Stanley George Sprague, age 36, from South Dakota, Pennington county.

Service era: Vietnam
Military history: Purple Heart

Date of death: Monday, September 12, 1966

Death details: On January 11, 1991, the Central Identification Lab-Hawaii (CILHI, now DPAA) identified the remains of Major Stanley George Sprague, missing from the Vietnam War. Major Sprague, who joined the U.S. Air Force from South Dakota, served with the 602nd Tactical Fighter Squadron. On September 12, 1966, he piloted an A-1E Skyraider (serial number 52-133928) departing from Udorn, Thailand on a reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. During the mission, the Skyraider was shot down and Major Sprague was killed. Hostile presence in the area inhibited search efforts during the war and his remains were not recovered at the time. In 1990, the Vietnamese government repatriated remains which were later identified as those of Major Sprague. Major Sprague is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.
Cemetery: Memorialized in Black Hills National

Source: National Archives, grave marker

Green, Ralph Howard
Navy Aviation Ordnanceman

Ralph Howard Green from Rapid City, South Dakota.

Parents: Charles Green (died in 1947) and Beatrice Green
Spouse: Carol Jean Ellerton (May 31, 1964)

Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Custer High (1961)

Date of death: Friday, December 4, 1964
Death details: Among 12 crewmembers killed when their P-3A Orion crashed in the ocean 12 miles north of Manila, Philippines. Body never recovered.
Cemetery: Memorialized in Black Hills National

Source: Grave marker, Custer Chronicle

Callan, Arthur Delbert
Air Force Captain

Arthur Delbert Callan from South Dakota, Pennington county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, May 15, 1952

Death details: On the evening of May 15, 1952, an RB-26C Invader (tail number 44-35668, call sign “Mongoose 45”) departed Kimpo (K-14) Air Base with a crew of three aviators. The briefed mission was a night photoreconnaissance operation to collect information on enemy supply line around Taegwan-dong and Sonchan. As the Mongoose 45 approached Anju, North Korea, it came under attack from an enemy aircraft. The pilot immediately reported that the aircraft had caught fire and that one of the two navigators aboard was wounded. Controllers attempted to steer the RB-26 to safety at Cho-do (island); however, no further radio contact could be established with the aircraft after the distress call. As near as we can determine, none of the three aviators were ever alive in enemy hands.

Captain Arthur Delbert Callan, who joined the U.S. Air Force from South Dakota, served with the 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group. He was the nose navigator (photographer) aboard the RB-26C when was lost. No returning POWs mentioned contact with Capt Callan, nor was he seen at any known holding point, interrogation center, hospital, or permanent POW camp. He remains unaccounted-for. Today, Captain Callan is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Wilcox, Wesley
Army Private

Wesley Wilcox, age 20, from South Dakota, Pennington county.

Service era: World War II
Military history: 307th Infantry

Date of death: Thursday, May 17, 1945
Death details: Killed in action
Cemetery: Black Hills National

Source: National Archives, grave marker

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