Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Joseph C. Polizzi from Wayne County Detroit, Michigan .
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Friday, October 31, 1941
Death details: Died in the sinking of the destoryer USS Reuben James
Source: Los Angeles Times (1941), Petoskey News Review (1941)
Clarence Rygwelski from Presque Isle County Rogers City, Michigan .
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Friday, October 31, 1941
Death details: Died in the sinking of the destoryer USS Reuben James
Source: Los Angeles Times (1941), Allentown Morning Call (1941)
Charles Saint John, age 48, from Ionia County Lyons, Michigan .
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Saturday, October 12, 1918
Death details: Killed in action
Source: Soldiers of the Great War
Lawrence Woodrow Mills from Jackson County Michigan.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Unknown
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Master Sergeant Lawrence Woodrow Mills, who joined the U.S. Army from Michigan, served with B Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on December 1, 1950, as his unit was withdrawing from Kunu-ri to Sunchon. He was part of a group of prisoners of war marched northward to Camp 5 at Pyoktong, North Korea. Master Sergeant Mills died of malnutrition and pneumonia at Camp 5 and was buried there. His remains have not been recovered. Master Sergeant Mills is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Milton Thearlo Bullis from Wayne County Michigan.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Unknown
Death details: On June 29, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Corporal Milton Thearlo Bullis, missing from the Korean War. Corporal Bullis joined the U.S. Army from Michigan and was a member of the Medical Company attached to the 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. In late November 1950, the 9th Infantry Regiment engaged Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) in a fighting withdrawal south from Sinhung-dong, North Korea, to Kunu-ri, and then to Sunch’on. U.S. troops had to fight through CCF roadblocks on the route to Sunch’on, and CPL Bullis was captured by enemy forces at some point during the withdrawal. He died of illness at the Pukchin-Tarigol prisoner of war camp complex in March 1951. In April 2005, a joint U.S./North Korean investigation team recovered remains from a site near the area where the Pukchin-Tarigol camps had been. Advances in forensic techniques eventually allowed for some of these remains to be identified at those of CPL Bullis. Corporal Bullis 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
Bernard Cleo Clouse from Manistee County Michigan.
Parents: Maud Clouse
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Unknown
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Sergeant Bernard Cleo Clouse joined the U.S. Army from Michigan and was a member of Headquarters Company, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. On December 1, 1950, he was captured by enemy forces south of Kunu-ri, as his unit made their fighting withdrawal toward Sunchon. He was marched to Camp 5, a prison camp near the Yalu River in Pyoktong, North Korea, where he died in March 1951. He was not identified among the remains returned to U.S. custody after the war, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Sergeant Clouse 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, UPI (1954)
John Harmon from Wayne County Michigan.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Unknown
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Sergeant First Class John Harmon, who joined the U.S. Army from Michigan, was a member of Battery C, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by the CCF during the fighting withdrawal from Kunu-ri on December 1, 1950. He was marched to a holding camp in the Pukchin-Tarigol Valley in North Korea, where he died of malnutrition in February 1951. His remains have not been recovered, and he was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Sergeant First Class Harmon 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