Ripley County Indiana – My Fallen Soldiers

Date of death: Sunday, July 16, 1950
Death details: On the evening of July 15, 1950, the U.S. Army’s 19th Infantry Regiment held defensive positions along the south bank of the Kum River. As dusk approached, North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) tanks appeared on the opposite shore and began firing on the U.S. positions. Although U.S. troops repulsed the attacks that evening, the next morning the NKPA crossed the river and launched a major attack against the 19th Regiment. As the regiment began withdrawing south to Taejon, the North Koreans pushed deep into their defensive lines and set up a roadblock en route to Taejon. When retreating American convoys could not break through the roadblock, soldiers were forced to leave the road and attempt to make their way in small groups across the countryside. Of the 900 soldiers in the 19th Infantry when the Battle of Kum River started, only 434 made it to friendly lines. Corporal Leonard William Elmer Jinks entered the U.S. Army from Indiana and served with Company C, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He went missing on July 16, during the Battle of Kum River, while his unit was attempting to withdraw through and around an enemy roadblock outside Taejon. While CPL Jinks was never reported as a prisoner of war (POW), reliable records indicate that his name was referenced in a North Korean propaganda broadcast as being a POW. Additionally, men captured during this action were marched to various holding camps in North Korea, and as Allied forces subsequently retook territory, blackboards with prisoners’ names recorded onto them were found in abandoned school houses along the POW march routes. Corporal Jinks’ name, although somewhat garbled, was found on one of the blackboards. Additionally, one man who was captured but managed to escape reported seeing CPL Jinks among his fellow prisoners and still alive on October 14. He remains unaccounted for. Today, Corporal Jinks is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Posted on 01/09/1945
Miller, Leslie E.
Army Private 1st class

Leslie E. Miller, age 27, from Ripley County Indiana.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Tuesday, January 9, 1945
Death details: On December 13, 1944, Japanese forces in the Philippines began the transfer of 1,621 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) to Japan. The POWs were to make the journey aboard transport ships whose harsh conditions and extreme overcrowding led survivors to refer to them as “Hell Ships.” The ships also lacked markings that would distinguish them from any other military target, causing some of them to be attacked by Allied forces who could not identify them as POW transports. On December 14, 1944, Allied aircraft attacked the first ship, the Oryoku Maru, in Subic Bay in the Philippines, killing many Allied POWs who became lost in the water, sank with the ship, or were washed ashore. Survivors of the bombing were put aboard two other ships, the Enoura Maru and the Brazil Maru, to continue on to Japan. During the journey, while anchored in Takao Harbor, Formosa (present-day Taiwan), the Enoura Maru was attacked by Allied aircraft from the USS Hornet (CV-8), killing Allied POWs who were lost in the water, on board the ship, or on the nearby shore. Survivors of the Enoura Maru bombing were loaded onto the Brazil Maru, and reached Japan on January 30, 1945. As a result of these incidents, Allied POWs were lost in the Philippines, at sea between the Philippines and Taiwan, while anchored in Taiwan, at sea between Taiwan and Japan, and in Japan. The attacks on these POW transports ultimately resulted in a series of death notifications from the Japanese government through the International Red Cross (IRC), and some casualties were given up to five different dates of death at various locations during the transfer. Witness accounts from surviving POWs offer detailed information for a handful of casualties, but the specific dates of loss and/or last-known locations for many of these POWs are based on the most recent reported date of death. Private First Class Leslie E. Miller, who entered the U.S. Army from Indiana, served in the 803rd Engineer Battalion in the Philippines during World War II. He was taken as a POW following the Japanese invasion and interned in the islands until December 1944, when he was put aboard the Oryoku Maru for transport to Japan. Records indicate PFC Miller was killed several weeks later in the attack on the Enoura Maru; however, these reports often involve information solely furnished by enemy governments, with some casualties given multiple dates of death. Future research may determine that these reports were inaccurate. Private First Class Miller’s remains could not be identified following the war, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Private First Class Miller is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Posted on 12/07/1941
Stratton, John Raymond
Navy Seaman 1st class

John Raymond Stratton from Holton, Indiana, Ripley county.

Parents: Frank Stratton

Service era: World War II

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

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency