David D. Gay, age 21, from Saline County Harrisburg, Illinois .
Parents: David Gay Sr.
Spouse: Married
Service era: Beirut bombings
Schools: Gail
Date of death: Sunday, October 23, 1983
Death details: Among more than 200 military personnel killed in the terroist bombing of Marine headquarters in Beirut.
Cemetery: Elmwood in Equality, Illinois
Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, Evansville Courier & Press (1983)
Russell L. Williams, age 26, from Harrisburg, Illinois, Saline county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, June 22, 1970
Death details: Hostile, killed in Cambodia
Cemetery: Dodget Grove
Source: National Archives, Mattoon Journal Gazette (1970)
John Cline Towle, age 22, from Harrisburg, Illinois, Saline county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: April 22, 1970
Death details: On September 1, 1995, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Captain John Cline Towle, missing from the Vietnam War.
Captain Towle joined the U.S. Air Force from Illinois and was a member of the 16th Special Operations Squadron. On April 22, 1970, he was the co-pilot of an AC-130 gunship (serial number 54-1625) on an armed reconnaissance mission over enemy targets in Saravane Province, Laos. The AC-130 was shot down by anti-aircraft fire during the mission, and Capt Towle was killed in the crash. Search and rescue efforts were unable to locate his body immediately following the incident. In November 1993, a joint U.S. and Laotian investigative team recovered remains from a crash site associated with this AC-130. In 1995, forensic analysis identified some of the recovered remains as those of Capt Towle.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
John Cline Towle, age 27, from Harrisburg, Illinois, Saline county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: April 22, 1970
Death details: On September 1, 1995, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Captain John Cline Towle, missing from the Vietnam War. Captain Towle joined the U.S. Air Force from Illinois and was a member of the 16th Special Operations Squadron. On April 22, 1970, he was the co-pilot of an AC-130 gunship (serial number 54-1625) on an armed reconnaissance mission over enemy targets in Saravane Province, Laos. The AC-130 was shot down by anti-aircraft fire during the mission, and Capt Towle was killed in the crash. Search and rescue efforts were unable to locate his body immediately following the incident. In November 1993, a joint U.S. and Laotian investigative team recovered remains from a crash site associated with this AC-130. In 1995, forensic analysis identified some of the recovered remains as those of Capt Towle.
Cemetery: Arlington National
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Rollie Deneen Bailey, age 19, from Saline County Carrier Mills, Illinois .
Parents: Verba Bush
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Wednesday, October 25, 1944
Death details: Killed in the sinking of the USS Gambier Bay during the Battle of Leyte.
Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery
Source: National Archives, American Battle Monuments Commission, Evansville Press (1944)
Edward Lee Borders, age 20, from Saline County Harrisburg, Illinois .
Parents: Frank Borders
Date of death: Unknown
Death details: On May 4, 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of Corporal Edward Lee Borders, missing from the Korean War. Corporal Edward Lee Borders joined the U.S. Army from Illinois and was a member of Battery D, 82nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery (Automatic Weapons) Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. On February 11, 1951, the 82nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion provided fire support for Republic of Korea (ROK) forces attacking Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) near Hongch’on, South Korea. A massive CCF counterattack forced the ROK to withdraw, leaving the U.S. troops in the area to fight through ambushes and roadblocks to reach safety at allied lines in Wonju, South Korea, to the south. Corporal Borders was captured by the CCF during the fighting withdrawal toward Wonju. He died at some point during his captivity; however, the exact circumstances of his death are unknown. After the conflict’s ceasefire, North Korean officials returned a significant number of human remains thought to be those of unaccounted-for U.S. servicemen. CPL Borders’ remains could not be separated from this group of remains at the time. However, modern forensic techniques were eventually able to individually identify his remains. Corporal Borders 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, Daily Register (1953)