Robert Leroy Wyckoff, age 28, from Essex County Newark, New Jersey .
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Arizona
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Wyckoff, Robert Leroy
Spowers, Craig
Navy
Craig Spowers, age 24, from Essex County East Orange, New Jersey .
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), Saint Louis Post Dispatch (1941)
Herkert, Willard William
Navy Aviation metalsmith 1st class
Willard William Herkert from Newark, New Jersey, Essex county.
Parents: Julia L. Herkert
Service era: World War II
Date of death: October 30, 1944
Source: National Archives, family
Curran, Joseph J.
Army Technical sergeant
Joseph J. Curran from New Jersey, Essex county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: March 1, 1946
Death details: Killed in action
Source: National Archives
Fleming, Cecil Leon
Army Private 1st class
Cecil Leon Fleming, age 18, from Union County Elizabeth, New Jersey .
Parents: Cecil Fleming
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. Corporal Cecil L. Fleming, who entered the U.S. Army from New Jersey, was serving with the Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division at the time of the Chinese offensive. He was captured by enemy forces during the course of the fighting withdrawal, and, along with a number of other prisoners, was moved to the ‘Mining Camp’ prison facility in the Pukchin-Tarigol valley. Many prisoners were lost to disease or exposure at this camp; Corporal Fleming died in late January or early February of 1951 of starvation and pneumonia. His death was reported by a doctor who survived internment at the ‘Mining Camp.’ The site of the ‘Mining Camp’ is within the borders of modern-day North Korea, and Corporal Fleming’s remains are not among those that have been returned from this site by the North Koreans. Today, Corporal Fleming is memorialized in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, The News (1953)
Hicks, Francis Patrick
Army Private 1st class
Francis Patrick Hicks from Essex County New Jersey.
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. Corporal Francis Patrick Hicks joined the U.S. Army from New Jersey and was a member of Battery C, 38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. On November 30, 1950, he was captured by enemy forces outside of Kunu-Ri, North Korea, as his unit made its fighting withdrawal toward Sunchon. Corporal Hicks was marched to the “Death Valley” prisoner of war camp in Hofong, North Korea, where he died in February of 1951. He was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody after the war, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Corporal Hicks 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