David Lorenzo Vigil, age 20, from Colorado, Prowers county.
Parents: Isodora E. Vigil Jr.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, May 20, 1970
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives, Fort Collins Coloradoan (1970)
John Marez Chavarria, age 18, from Colorado, Prowers county.
Parents: Camila Chavarria Sr.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, March 4, 1970
Death details: Killed in action in Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Lavoy Don McVey, age 32, from Colorado, Prowers county.
Spouse: Karen J. McVey
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, March 2, 1970
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives, Fort Worth Star Telegram (1970)
Russell Allen Shields, age 25, from Lamar, Colorado, Prowers county.
Parents: Archie A. Shields
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, February 6, 1970
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)
Valentine Marquez, age 21, from Prowers County Wiley, Colorado .
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, November 8, 1965
Death details: Killed in action in Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1965)
Winston Laverne Albers, age 30, from Prowers County Colorado.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, November 30, 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 First Class Winston Laverne Albers, who joined the U.S. Army from Colorado, served with the Headquarters, Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was killed in action on November 30, 1950, during his unit’s withdrawal to Sunchon, North Korea. His body was not recovered at the time, and he was not identified among the remains returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Sergeant First Class Albers is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Oakland Tribune
Ferrol D. Ralston from Colorado, Prowers county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Friday, June 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 Ferrol D. Ralston entered the U.S. Army from Colorado and served in the Quartermaster Corps in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender on April 9, 1942, and died of dysentery on June 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 Ralston is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency