Putnam County Indiana

Cline, Randy E.
Army Sergeant

Randy E. Cline, age 28, from Cloverdale, Indiana, Putnam county.

Spouse: Married (pregnant at time of death).

Service era: Grenada

Date of death: Tuesday, October 25, 1983
Death details: Died when his Jeep ran into an enemy ambush. Killed were Randy E. Cline, Mark A. Rademacher, Marlin R. Maynard, Russell L. Robinson
Cemetery: Walnut Chapel, Cloverdale

Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, Department of Veterans Affairs, Savannah Morning News, findagrave.com, Indianapolis News (1983)

Stuckey, John Steiner Jr.
Army Private 1st class

John Steiner Jr. Stuckey, age 21, from Cloverdale, Indiana, Putnam County

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Saturday, November 11, 1967
Death details:  On November 11, 1967, a unit from the U.S. Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade engaged an enemy force near Hill 875 as part of the month-long Operation MacArthur campaign, also known as the Battle of Dak To. Six men from the unit were killed in action before the unit was forced to withdraw, leaving the bodies behind. The next day, the unit returned to recover the remains but found that all six were gone, supposedly removed by the enemy following the engagement. Further searches recovered the bodies of two of the unit’s fallen, but the remaining four could not be located.

Private First Class John Steiner Stuckey, Jr., entered the U.S. Army from Indiana and served in Company A, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade. He was one of the members of this unit who was killed during the action, and was among those whose remains could not be located following the incident. Today, Private First Class Stuckey is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

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

Murphy, Thomas Jesse
Navy Reserves Pharmacist’s mate 2nd class

Thomas Jesse Murphy, age 22, from Greencastle, Indiana, Putnam county.

Parents: Anna Vanlandingham

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: On September 14, 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class Thomas Jesse Murphy, missing from World War II. Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class Murphy, who entered the U.S. Navy from Indiana, was attached to Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. On November 20, 1943, he was killed during the amphibious assault on Betio Island, as part of the Battle of Tarawa. He was buried in a cemetery on Betio, though specific details regarding his loss and burial were unrecorded at the time. His remains could not be identified from among the remains recovered from Betio after the war. In 2017, the independent investigative group History Flight, in partnership with DPAA, located a burial trench on Betio and recovered human remains. DPAA analysts identified PhM2 Murphy from among these remains.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Covey, Hershell Lee
Army Staff sergeant

Hershell Lee Covey from Indiana, Putnam county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Friday, July 17, 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 and food and water supplied 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. Staff Sergeant Hershel Lee Covey, who joined the U.S. Army Air Forces in Indiana, was a member of the Headquarters Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group, which was stationed in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender and died of cerebral malaria on July 17, 1942, at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp. Staff Sergeant Covey 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, Staff Sergeant Covey is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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