Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Russell Keith Shoemaker, age 31, from Sweet Springs, Missouri, Saline county.
Service era: Iraq
Military history: National Police Transition Team (Nptt) 6131 (Atchd To 4Bct), 1St Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas
Date of death: Thursday, May 24, 2007
Death details: Hostile; Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense, Miitary Times
Dickie Waine Finley from Sweet Springs, Missouri, Saline county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: October 21, 1968
Death details:
On October 21, 1968, a five-man reconnaissance patrol from the U.S. Army 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, was on an operational mission in the area of Ban Me Thuot, Dac Lac Province, South Vietnam. During the evening, the patrol reported encountering an enemy force near their location. The patrol expended their ammunition then proceeded to a pick-up zone to await helicopter extraction. During extraction, only three members of the patrol were able to board the helicopter before it prematurely took off. In the ensuing confusion, personnel aboard the helicopter reported that a fourth man was able to grab onto the skid of the helicopter as it took off from the landing zone. The helicopter crew and members of the patrol attempted to pull the man on the skid into the cabin, but they could not, and he fell to the ground. Upon learning this, the extraction helicopter returned immediately to the location where it was believed he had fallen and searched for the two missing team members without success. An accompanying chase helicopter also joined the search, returning to the original landing zone from which the patrol had been extracted. U.S. forces searched the area for the next three days. On the second day, searchers found the body of one of the patrol members and the pack of another in a tree near the landing zone, in the vicinity of (GC) ZV 203 143. The body was recovered but the missing fifth patrol member was never located.
Private First Class Dickie Waine Finley, who joined the U.S. Army from Missouri, served with the 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. He was not rescued during the initial helicopter extraction, nor was his body recovered by the rescue team when they returned to the extraction site. He remains unaccounted for. After the incident, the Army promoted PFC Finley to the rank of Staff Sergeant (SSG). Today, Staff Sergeant Finley is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
David C. Wilkes from Missouri, Saline county.
Service era: Korea
Military history: Company D, 1st Battalion 32nd Infantry Regiment, 31st Regimental Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division
Date of death: Saturday, December 2, 1950
Death details: Approximately 2,500 U.S. and 700 South Korean soldiers assembled into the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), which was deployed east of the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea, when it was attacked by overwhelming numbers of Chinese forces. As the Chinese attacks continued, American forces withdrew south. The U.S. Army evacuated approximately 1,500 service members; the remaining soldiers had been either captured, killed or missing in enemy territory. Wilkes was initially reported missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950, when he could not be accounted for after the withdrawal, but his status was later amended to killed in action. Remains accounted for June 24, 2019
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
James M. Whitworth, age 23, from Sweet Springs, Missouri, Saline county. Their last known residence was in Kansas City, Missouri.
Spouse: Irene Johnson Whitworth
Children: None
Service era: World War II
Military history: Second Armored Division
Date of death: Saturday, January 6, 1945
Death details: Killed in action in Belgium
Source: National Archives, Windsor Missouri Review (1945)
Orville Wilmer Garrett, age 24, from Saline County Marshall, Missouri .
Parents: His mother died when he was three and for three years he lived with his gramparents.
Service era: World War II
Schools: Marshall High
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Arizona
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Slater News Rustler (1942)