Prophetstown Illinois

Eads, Dennis Keith
Army Chief warrant officer

Dennis Keith Eads, age 22, from Prophetstown, Illinois, Whiteside county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Thursday, April 23, 1970
Death details: On April 23, 1970, an AH-1G Cobra (tail number 67-15612) with two crew members took off as part of a four-aircraft emergency night mission to extract a long-range reconnaissance patrol in South Vietnam. While providing fire support for the patrol to allow them to break contact with the enemy, the Cobra crashed in the vicinity of (GC) ZC 180 270. Inclement weather in the area prevented an immediate search and rescue effort for the crew. A full investigation of the area was conducted the following morning; however, neither the downed aircraft nor its crew were located. Warrant Officer 1 (WO1) Dennis Keith Eads, who joined the U.S. Army from Illinois, was a member of Troop F, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 123rd Aviation Battalion, 16th Aviation Group, Americal Division. He was the pilot of the Cobra when it went down, and was lost with the aircraft. His remains were not recovered. Following the incident, the Army promoted WO1 Eads to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 3. Today, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Eads is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual’s case to be in the analytical category of Non-recoverable.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, findagrave.com

VonRycke, Anthony
Army Technician 4

Anthony VonRycke, age 22, from Prophetstown, Illinois, Whiteside county.

Service era: World War II
Schools: Graduated in 1937 from high school in Prophetstown

Date of death: Friday, June 26, 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. Technician Fourth Grade Anthony Von Rycke entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Illinois and served with Headquarters Squadron, 20th Air Base Group in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender on April 9, 1942, and died of dysentery and malaria on June 26, 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, Technician Fourth Grade Von Rycke is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Source: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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