Ross County Ohio

Gire, Joshua S.
Army Staff sergeant

Joshua S. Gire, age 28, from Chillicothe, Ohio, Ross county.

Service era: Afghanistan

School: Huntington High (2000)

Military history: 54th Engineer Battalion, 18th Engineer Brigade, Bamberg, Germany.

Date of death: Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Death details: Died in Logar Province, Afghanistan of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device, rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire. Pfc. Michael C. Mahr was also killed.

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times.

Clemmons, Brad Allen
Air Force Master sergeant

Brad Allen Clemmons, age 37, from Chillicothe, Ohio, Ross county.

Service era: Iraq
Military history: 354Th Civil Engineering Squadron, Eielson Afb, Ak

Date of death: Monday, August 21, 2006
Death details: Hostile; Taji, Iraq

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times

Dunn, Carl Edward
Army Corporal

Carl Edward Dunn, age 27, from Chillicothe, Ohio, Ross county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, August 25, 1970
Death details: Hostile, South Vietnam

Source: National Archives, Dover Daily Reporter (1970)

Mowrey, Glenn William
Marines Corporal

Glenn William Mowrey, age 21, from Chillicothe, Ohio, Ross county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Tuesday, March 26, 1968
Death details: On March 26, 1968, a UH-34D Choctaw (bureau number 144654, call sign “Murry Medevac Chase”) was the wingman aircraft in a flight of two on an emergency medical evacuation mission from Hue-Phu Bai to Da Nang, South Vietnam. The helicopter four crew members and three passengers. During the flight, this Choctaw’s pilot lost sight of the lead aircraft due to weather conditions, and put the aircraft on instruments while continuing to locate the lead helicopter. It was while flying under instrument control that the Choctaw nose-dived into the water. Search and rescue teams responded to the crash site and rescued the pilot and the copilot, but were unable to locate the other two crew members or the three passengers. Corporal (Cpl) Glenn William Mowrey, who joined the U.S. Marine Corps from Ohio, served with the Headquarters and Service Company, Forces Logistics Support Group Alpha, Forces Logistics Command. He was a patient being evacuated aboard the helicopter on a medical evacuation mission when it crashed, and his remains were not recovered. Today, Cpl Mowrey is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Cemetery: Memorialized at Greenfield in Highland County, Ohio

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

Hoover, James
Army Specialist 4

James Hoover, age 23, from Ross County Kingston, Ohio .

Parents: Benjamin F. Hoover

Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Logan Elm High graduate

Date of death: Monday, November 1, 1965
Death details: Hostile, South Vietnam
Cemetery: Green Lawn

Source: National Archives, Circleville Herald (1965)

Bray, Robert Lee
Army Private 1st class

Robert Lee Bray, age 18, from Ross County Ohio.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, July 20, 1950
Death details: On June 6, 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Corporal Robert L. Bray, missing from the Korean War. Corporal Bray, who entered the U.S. Army in Ohio, served with C Company, 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on July 20, 1950, after his unit fought a defensive action near Taejon, South Korea, though the details of his loss are unknown. Following the incident, the 565th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company recovered his body from a common grave in Kujong-ni, North Korea; however, forensic analysis conducted at the time did not identify CPL Bray, and his remains were buried as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. In 2018, advances in forensic technology prompted the disinterment of all unknown remains from the Korean War, and in 2019, DPAA laboratory personnel identified CPL Bray from among them. Corporal Bray 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, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

White, James W.
Army Private 1st class

James W. White from Chester, Ohio, Ross county.

Service era: World War II
Military history: 5307 Composite Unit

Date of death: Sunday, July 2, 1944
Death details: The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Pfc. James W. White, 21, of Chester, Ohio, killed during World War II, was accounted for on Jan. 29, 2020.
In the spring and summer of 1944, White, an infantryman, was a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), also known as Merrill’s Marauders. After taking the airfield in Myitkyina, Burma, from the Japanese on May 17, White’s battalion was tasked with holding the airfield and taking part in the siege of Myitkyina. White was reported to have been killed during fighting on July 2.
The remains of servicemen killed during the battle were buried in at least eight different temporary cemeteries and numerous isolated burial locations. Eventually, all known burials were concentrated into the U.S. Military Cemetery at Myitkyina, including the remains of those who were not identified. In January and February 1946, all of the remains at the U.S. Military Cemetery were disinterred and transferred to the U.S. Military Cemetery at Kalaikunda, India. The exhumation of the U.S. Military Cemetery at Kalaikunda was conducted in September and October 1947.
One set of remains, designated Unknown X-52 Kalaikunda, was unable to be identified and was subsequently buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, in March 1949.
On July 16, 2018, DPAA disinterred Unknown X-52 Kalaikunda from the Punchbowl and transferred the remains to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
To identify White’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
White’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Taguig City, Philippines, along with the others missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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