Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Thomas Earl Littlepage, age 22, from Princeton, Indiana, Gibson county.
Parents: William L. Littlepage
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Saturday, January 24, 1970
Death details: Killed in South Vietnam by American forces who mistook him for the enemy.
Source: National Archives, Indianapolis News (1970)
William Thomas Lynn, age 18, from Princeton, Indiana.
Service era: Vietnam
Parent: Lawrence Lynn
School: Princeton HIgh (1968)
Date of death: Saturday, June 7, 1969
Death details: Killed during an attack of a night platoon base in Vietnam
Source: National Archives, grave marker, Princton Daily Clarion (1969)
Stephen Wayne Hadley, age 19, from Princeton, Indiana.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Thursday, June 20, 1968
Death details: Hostile in South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Princeton Daily Clarion (1968)
Hugh Whitehead, age 25, from Gibson County Princeton, Indiana .
Parents: William Whitehead
Spouse: Mary
Children: Three
Service era: World War II
Schools: Princeton High graduate
Date of death: Thursday, March 15, 1945
Death details: Died of wounds suffered the day before on Iwo Jima
Cemetery: IOOF in Princeton
Source: National Archives, grave marker, Evansville Press (1945)
Robert L. Boyer, age 25, from Princeton, Indiana, Gibson county.
Parents: Albert Boyer
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Tuesday, August 15, 1944
Death details: Killed in actio in France
Cemetery: Maple Hill, Princeton
Source: National Archives, grave marker, Princeton Daily Clarion (1948)
Robert L. Boyer, age 25, from Princeton, Indiana, Gibson county.
Parents: Albert Boyer
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Tuesday, August 15, 1944
Death details: Killed in actio in France
Cemetery: Maple Hill, Princeton
Source: National Archives, grave marker, Princeton Daily Clarion (1948)
John P. Fortner, age 23, from Gibson County Princeton, Indiana .
Parents: Elliott Fortner
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Friday, June 16, 1944
Death details: Killed when his plane crashed into Big Lake near Omaha, Nebraska. The plane was on a routine flight from the Lincoln, Nebraska, Army Air Base.
Cemetery: Maple Hill in Princeton
Source: National Archives, grave marker, Princeton Daily Clarion, Hutchinson News Herald (1944), Associated Press (1944)
Gilbert F. Smith, age 22, from Gibson County Princeton, Indiana .
Parents: Hester Smith
Spouse: Jean Smith
Service era: World War II
Schools: Princeton High graduate
Date of death: Sunday, March 5, 1944
Death details: On July 9, 2001, the Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI, now DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant Gilbert F. Smith, missing from World War II. Sergeant Smith entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Indiana and served in the 319th Bombardment Squadron, 90th Bombardment Group (Heavy). On March 5, 1944, he was a gunner aboard a B-24D Liberator (serial number 42-41135) nicknamed “Cold Steel” that took off from Nadzab, New Guinea, for a bombing mission over Hansa Bay, New Guinea. The bomber was not heard from after takeoff. Cold Steel crashed for unknown reasons, killing SGT Smith and the other nine crew members aboard. The aircraft remained missing until a group of young explorers found its wreckage in 1979 near the village of Tauta, high in the Finisterre Mountains of Papua New Guinea. The site was rediscovered and reported to CILHI in 1989. Later that year a CILHI team investigated the wreckage and recovered human remains. CILHI scientists used laboratory analysis and circumstantial evidence to identify SGT Smith from among these remains.
Cemetery: Memorialized at IOOF in Princeton
Source: National Archives, grave marker, Princeton Daily Clarion (1944), Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Arthur P. Clark, age 22, from Gibson County Princeton, Indiana .
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, September 19, 1943
Death details: Died at the army’s Fletcher general hospital of a broken neck received when he dived into a swimming pool at Kenyon College, Cambier, where he was enrolled for special training.
Cemetery: White Church, Princeton
Source: National Archives, grave marker, Chronicle Tribune (1943), Vincennes Sun Commercial (1943)
Paul Deffendall, age 22, from Gibson County Princeton, Indiana .
Parents: Earl Deffendall
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Monday, February 1, 1943
Death details: Killed in action in North Africa
Cemetery: White Church
Source: National Archives, grave marker, Princeton Daily Clarion (1943), Evansville Press (1943)