Sierra County New Mexico

Wiseman, Bain Wendell Jr.
Army Warrant officer 1st class

Bain Wendell Wiseman Jr., age 23, from New Mexico, Sierra county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Wednesday, December 23, 1970

Death details: On December 23, 1970, a U-1A Otter (tail number: 55-3298; call sign: Reliable 298) with a crew of three embarked on a courier mission over the Republic of (South) Vietnam. Witnesses on the ground saw the aircraft break into two pieces in mid-air approximately ten miles south of Tuy Hoa Air Base. The aircraft was said to be on fire when it split apart (vicinity of 49P CQ 285 350). Two rescue helicopters arrived on the scene within minutes and conducted an extensive aerial search for survivors along the coastline. Ground searches were also conducted, but were unsuccessful in finding any remains. The three men aboard the Otter are still unaccounted for.

Warrant Officer One (WO1) Bain Wendell Wiseman, who joined the U.S. Army from New Mexico, served with the 18th Aviation Company, 223rd Aviation Battalion, 17th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade. He was the pilot of the Otter when it went down, and his remains were not recovered. Today, WO1 Wiseman is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

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

Sedillo, Adan N.
Army Private

Adan N. Sedillo, age 26, from New Mexico, Sierra county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Sunday, August 9, 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. Private Adam N. Sedillo joined the U.S. Army from New Mexico and was a member of Company C of the 200th Coast Artillery Regiment in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured following the American surrender and forced on the Bataan Death March. He was ultimately interned at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province, where he died of dysentery on August 9, 1942. 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, Private Sedillo is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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