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Tawney, Ian M.
Marines Sergeant

Ian M. Tawney, age 25, from Dallas, Oregon, Polk county.

Parents: John Tawney and Theda Smith Chandler Tawney
Spouse: Ashley Tawney (Stevenson) married July 30, 2005
Children: Wife pregnant at time of death, Claire Kathryn Tawney

Service era: Afghanistan
Schools: Dallas High (2003)
Military history: 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California. Enlisted March 14, 2005. Purple Heart

Date of death: Saturday, October 16, 2010
Death details: Died while conducting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Cemetery: Dallas Cemetery

Source: Department of Defense, Statesman Journal, Military Times

Marks, Taylor D.
Army Private

Taylor D. Marks, age 19, from Monmouth, Oregon, Polk county. Their last known residence was in Monmouth.

Service era: Iraq
Military history: 41st Special Troops Battalion, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Oregon Army National Guard in Portland.

Date of death: Friday, August 28, 2009
Death details: Died in Rashid, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an explosively formed penetrator.

Source: Department of Defense

Wiens, Kory Duane
Army Private 1st class

Kory Duane Wiens, age 20, from Independence, Oregon, Polk county.

Service era: Iraq
Military history: 94Th Engineer Detachment (K-9), 1St Brigade, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri

School: West Albany High (2005)

Date of death: Friday, July 6, 2007
Death details: Killed while on patrol with his dog Cooper in Muhammad Sath, Iraq. Kory and Cooper were trained to find materials used to make explosives

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times, Coarville Gazette Times

Isenberg, Benjamin Warren
Army Sergeant

Benjamin Warren Isenberg, age 27, from Rickreall, Oregon, Polk county.

Service era: Iraq
Military history: B Company, 2D Battalion, 162D Infantry, 1St Cavalry Division, Corvallis, Or 97330

Date of death: Monday, September 13, 2004
Death details: Hostile; Taji, Iraq

Source: Department of Defense

Kesterson, Erik Clayton
Army Warrant officer 1

Erik Clayton Kesterson, age 29, from Monmouth, Oregon, Polk county.

Service era: Iraq
Military history: Company B 9Th Battalion 101St Aviation Regiment, Fort Campbell, Ky 42223

Date of death: Saturday, November 15, 2003
Death details: Hostile; Mosul, Iraq

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times

Dillon, Jack Howard
Army Specialist 5

Jack Howard Dillon, age 21, from Dallas, Oregon, Polk county.

Parents: J.D. Dillon

Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Dallas High (1967)

Date of death: Wednesday, July 29, 1970
Death details: Killed in South Vietnam

Source: National Archives, Statesman Journal (1970

Lichty, Donald R.
Army Private

Donald R. Lichty from Oregon, Polk county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Sunday, July 19, 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, with food and water 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 Donald R. Lichty entered the U.S. Army from Oregon and served with Company E of the 9812th Technical Service Unit in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender and died of malaria on July 19, 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 Lichty is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Fox, Louis David Jr.
Army Corporal

Louis David Jr. Fox from Polk County Portland, Oregon .

Parents: Louis D. Fox Sr.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Unknown
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 Louis David Fox Jr. joined the U.S. Army from Oregon and was a member of the Headquarters Battery, 38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. On November 30, 1950, he was captured by the CCF near Kunu-Ri, North Korea, as his unit made its fighting withdrawal toward Sunchon. Sergeant Fox was marched to the Death Valley Camp in North Korea, where he died in February of 1951. He was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody after the war, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Sergeant Fox is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, UPI (1953)

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