David L. Hanson, age 23, from South Dakota, Perkins county.
Service era: Cold War
Date of death: Wednesday, April 19, 1989
Death details: Killed in accidental explosion aboard the USS Iowa just off Puerto Rico
Source: Iowa Daily Press, UPI
Roy Albert Johnson, age 20, from South Dakota, Miner county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, July 10, 1970
Source: National Archives
Donald Deane Aldern, age 20, from South Dakota, Minnehaha county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, June 29, 1970
Source: National Archives
Fred Duane Larson, age 20, from South Dakota, Campbell county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, April 24, 1970
Source: National Archives
Mark Roland Horner, age 20, from South Dakota, Codington county.
Spouse: Connie Horner
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, February 15, 1970
Death details: Killed in action in Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Deadwood Pioneer Times (1970)
Roger Wendell Kvernes, age 39, from South Dakota, Miner county.
Parents: Agnes Kvernes
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Friday, January 2, 1970
Death details: Killed in Vietnam whil aboard an aircraft that crashed and burned
Cemetery: National Cemetery in Hawaii
Source: National Archives., Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Sioux Falls Arges Leader (1970)
Donald Edward Tippery, age 26, from South Dakota, Minnehaha county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: On November 8, 2001, Joint Task Force–Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Corporal Donald Edward Tippery, missing from the Korean War. Corporal Tippery entered the U.S. Army from South Dakota and served with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, members of Company L were occupying a defensive position near Unsan, North Korea, north of a bend in the Kuryong River known as the “Camel’s Head Bend.” That day, CPL Tippery was in a group of soldiers withdrawing on foot down the Unsan-Ipsok road in North Korea when they encountered enemy forces; CPL Tippery did not survive the ensuing combat, although the exact details surrounding his loss are unknown. His body was not recovered at the time. In 2000, a U.S. recovery team accessed a site along the withdrawal route in Unsan correlating to CPL Tippery’s loss and recovered human remains, and U.S. analysts identified CPL Tippery from these remains.
Source: National Archives, Rapid City Journal (1954)
Gerald Dean Kappler from South Dakota, Lake county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Sunday, July 16, 1950
Death details: On the evening of July 15, 1950, the U.S. Army’s 19th Infantry Regiment held defensive positions along the south bank of the Kum River. As dusk approached, North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) tanks appeared on the opposite shore and began firing on the U.S. positions. Although U.S. troops repulsed the attacks that evening, the next morning the NKPA crossed the river and launched a major attack against the 19th Regiment. As the regiment began withdrawing south to Taejon, the North Koreans pushed deep into their defensive lines and set up a roadblock en route to Taejon. When retreating American convoys could not break through the roadblock, soldiers were forced to leave the road and attempt to make their way in small groups across the countryside. Of the 900 soldiers in the 19th Infantry when the Battle of Kum River started, only 434 made it to friendly lines. Private First Class Gerald Dean Kappler entered the U.S. Army from South Dakota and served with Company A, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He went missing in action on July 16, 1950, following his unit’s attempt to withdraw around an enemy roadblock outside Taejon during the Battle of Kum River. Private First Class Kappler was never reported as a prisoner of war, and his remains were not recovered or identified following the conflict. Today, Private First Class Kappler is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Robert J. Holly from South Dakota, Pennington county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Tuesday, February 22, 1944
Death details: On February 22, 1944, a B-25G Mitchell (serial number 42-64779) with a crew of seven took off from Kurmitola, India, for a bombing mission against railroads in Monywa, Burma. While en route to the target, another aircraft crew on the mission witnessed the Mitchell catch fire and crash into a field on the banks of the Chindwin River, near Letpadaung, Burma. Witnesses did not report seeing any signs of survivors, and enemy presence in the area prevented searches of the crash site at the time. Post-war investigations discovered that, following the crash, Japanese soldiers had commanded Burmese locals to search and strip the wreckage of the B-25G and bury the bodies of the crew. Subsequent American search efforts to locate the remains of the crew from the crash site were unsuccessful, and all seven are still missing. Second Lieutenant Robert J. Holly entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from South Dakota and was a member of the 490th Bombardment Squadron, 341st Bombardment Group (Medium). He was the copilot of this Mitchell when it went down. He was killed in the crash and his body was reportedly buried by Japanese forces when the plane wreckage was stripped, but he was not recovered or identified by subsequent U.S. recovery efforts. Today, Second Lieutenant Holly is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Gale H. Thorne, age 25, from South Dakota, Day county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, November 22, 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 Gale H. Thorne joined the U.S. Army from South Dakota and was a member of Company D, 31st Infantry Regiment in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender and died of dysentery on November 22, 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 Thorne is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency