Richland County South Carolina

Owen, Billy Alvin
Army Private 1st class

Billy Alvin Owen, age 22, from Irmo, South Carolina, Richland county.

Parents: Loudora Owen

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: During the last week of October 1950, Republic of Korea (ROK) Army forces under the control of the U.S. Eighth Army were advancing deep in North Korean territory, approaching the Yalu River on the Chinese-Korean border. Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) struck back in a surprise attack, engaging the ROK 1st and 6th Divisions near Unsan, some sixty miles north of Pyongyang. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, with the 8th Cavalry Regiment in the lead, was rushed forward to reinforce the ROK units in the Unsan area. On November 1, the regiment’s 1st Battalion took up positions north of Unsan, while the 2nd Battalion moved to guard the Nammyon River valley west of town, and the 3rd Battalion was placed in reserve at the valley’s southern end. Corporal Billy Alvin Owen joined the U.S. Army from South Carolina and was a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, Company C was occupying defensive positions with the 1st Battalion near Unsan when it was hit by a severe enemy attack and forced to withdraw. Units faced continued enemy attacks during the withdrawal, and it was during this fighting that CPL Owen became missing, though specific details regarding his loss are unknown. He was never reported as a prisoner of war, and his remains were not identified among those returned to the U.S. following the war. Today, Corporal Owen is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Columbia Record (1950)

Kohn, Edward B.
Army Corporal

Edward B. Kohn from South Carolina, Richland county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Saturday, June 13, 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. Corporal Edward B. Kohn entered the U.S. Army from South Carolina and served in the 454th Ordnance Company in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender and died of dysentery on June 13, 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, Corporal Kohn is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Williams, Jack Herman
Navy Reserves Radioman 3rd class

Jack Herman Williams, age 22, from Richland County Columbia, South Carolina .

Parents: Annie Williams

Service era: World War II
Schools: Olympia High graduate

Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Arizona. Remains not recovered.

Source: National Archives, The State (1991)

Galloway, William L.
Private

William L. Galloway from Columbia, South Carolina, Richland county.

Service era: World War I

Date of death: Wednesday, November 6, 1918
Death details: Killed in action
Cemetery: Arlington National

Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com

Fickling, Eldred S.
Lieutenant

Eldred S. Fickling, age 30, from Columbia, South Carolina, Richland county.

Service era: World War I

Date of death: Wednesday, October 23, 1918
Death details: Killed in action
Cemetery: Memorialized at Elmwood Memorial Gardens, Columbia

Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com, findagrave.com

Garvin, Harmon C.
Private

Harmon C. Garvin from White Rock, South Carolina, Richland county.

Service era: World War I

Date of death: Tuesday, October 8, 1918
Death details: Killed in action

Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com

Fulmer, Essie A.
Private

Essie A. Fulmer, age 22, from Blythewood, South Carolina, Richland county.

Service era: World War I

Date of death: Tuesday, October 8, 1918
Death details: Killed in action
Cemetery: Arlington National

Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com

Crawford, Charles Eugene Sr.
Army Sergeant 1st class

Charles Eugene Sr. Crawford from Richland County Fayetteville, South Carolina .

Spouse: Mary E. Crawford

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. Master Sergeant Charles Eugene Crawford Sr., who joined the U.S. Army from South Carolina, served with Battery C, 38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on November 30, 1950, as his unit made a fighting withdrawal south from Kunu-ri to Sunchon. He was marched north with a group of prisoners to Camp 5 at Pyoktong, where he died of malnutrition several weeks after arrival. His remains have not been identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Master Sergeant Crawford 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, Columbia Record (1953)

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