Tag: Somerset County Maine

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Springmann, Tyler M.
Army Private 1st class

Tyler M. Springmann, age 19, from Hartland, Maine, Somerset county.

Service era: Afghanistan
Schools: Nokomis Regional High in Newport (2010)
Military history: 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, Alaska

Date of death: Sunday, July 17, 2011
Death details: Died in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an imporvised explosive device. Sgt. 1st class Kenneth B. Elwell.

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times

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Hutchins, Andrew L.
Army Specialist

Andrew L. Hutchins, age 20, from New Portland, Maine, Somerset county.

Parents: Jeffrey Hutchins and Robin Norwood
Spouse: Heather L. Hutchins
Children: Wife pregnant at time of death

Service era: Afghanistan
Schools: Carrabec High (2008)
Military history: 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Date of death: Monday, November 8, 2010
Death details: Died at Khost Province, Afghanistan of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire.
Cemetery: Maine Veterans Memorial

Source: Department of Defense, Kennebec Journal, Military Times

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Dore, Jason Edward
Army Specialist

dore, jason e.

Jason Edward Dore, age 25, from Moscow, Maine, Somerset county.

Service era: Iraq
Military history: Hhc, 2d Battalion, 5th Cavalry, 1 Bct, Fort Hood, Tx

Date of death: Sunday, July 8, 2007
Death details: Hostile; Baghdad, Iraq

Source: Department of Defense, Summit Project

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Andrews, Evander Earl
Air Force Master Sergeant

Evander Earl Andrews, age 36, from Solon, Maine, Somerset county.

Service era: Iraq
Military history: 366th Civil Engineer Squadron, Mountain Home Afb, Id

Date of death: Wednesday, October 10, 2001
Death details: Al Udeid, Qatar

Source: Department of Defense, Military Times

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Withee, Edward William Sr.
Navy Gunner’s Mate Guns 1st Class

Edward William Sr. Withee, age 29, from Madison, Maine, Somerset county. Their last known residence was in Therese Nancy and Patricia Ann.

Spouse: Delores Dobbins Withee
Children: Therese Nancy and Patrcia Ann

Service era: Vietnam
Military history: 12 year veteran of the Navy on his third assignment to Vietnam. His brother Clyde Withee was killed in Vietnam in 1966

Date of death: Tuesday, October 6, 1970
Death details: Killed in South Vietnam when the Navy river patrol boat he was aboard struck an underwater mine.

Source: National Archives, Morning Sentinel (1970)

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Salsbury, Richard G.
Army Staff Sergeant

Richard G. Salsbury from Maine, Somerset county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Sunday, August 1, 1943
Death details: On September 23, 2021, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Richard Gerald Salsbury, missing from World War II. Staff Sergeant Salsbury entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Maryland and served in the 345th Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment Group. On August 1, 1943, Operation TIDAL WAVE was launched, a bombing raid against the oil refineries around Ploiești, Romania. One hundred and seventy-seven B-24 Liberators took off from Benghazi, Libya, for the raid. Fifty-one planes failed to return, including the one (serial number 42-40312) on which SSG Salsbury was a gunner. His remains were not identified following the war. Operation TIDAL WAVE, while successfully damaging the Ploiești oil refineries, cost the lives of hundreds of USAAF airmen, many of whom were interred by Romanian citizens into the Bolovan Cemetery in Ploiești. During postwar operations there, the American Graves Registration Command exhumed unknown remains that were eventually reinterred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery. In 2017, DPAA began exhuming those unknowns for comparison with the unaccounted-for airmen lost during Operation TIDAL WAVE. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established an association between one set of these unknown remains and SSG Salsbury.

Source: National Archives, findagrave.com

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Lewis, Carroll A.
Army Private 1st Class

Carroll A. Lewis from Maine, Somerset county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Thursday, December 31, 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. Corporal Carroll A. Lewis entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Maine and served with the 3rd Pursuit Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender on April 9, 1942, and died of disease on December 31, 1942, at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province. 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, Corporal Lewis 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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Jackson, Alman E.
Army Technician 5th Grade

Alman E. Jackson from Maine, Somerset county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Friday, July 24, 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. Technician Fifth Grade Alman E. Jackson joined the U.S. Army Air Forces from Maine and was a member of Headquarters Squadron, Fifth Interceptor Command, in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender on April 9, 1942 and died of diphtheria on July 24, 1942 at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province. 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, Technician Fifth Grade Jackson 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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Colford, Wilbur Bartlett
Army Private

Wilbur Bartlett Colford from Maine, Somerset county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Unknown
Death details: On July 5, 1950, Task Force Smith, the first U.S. ground element to engage North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) troops, was defending a position north of Osan, South Korea. The Task Force’s goal was to delay enemy forces by blocking their movement down the road south from Suwon to Taejon, which was a major avenue of advance for the NKPA. That morning, the Task Force was engaged by a column of enemy tanks. The anti-tank weapons that the infantrymen employed were ineffective, and a large number of tanks broke through their position. Task Force Smith was forced to withdraw to the south, suffering heavy casualties in the process. Private First Class Wilbur Barlett Colford, who joined the U.S. Army from Maine, served with B Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. His unit was part of Task Force Smith and he was captured by enemy forces on July 5, 1950. He was forced to march north to a temporary prison camp near Manpo, North Korea, where he died of exhaustion, exposure, and malnutrition in late October 1950. His remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Private First Class Colford is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency