Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Clifford Ivan Wright, age 20, from East Peoria, Illinois, Tazewell county.
Parents: Ivan M. Wright
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, October 12, 1970
Death details: Hostile, killed in South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, The PantagrAssociated Press (1970)h (1970)
Stanley Paul Arendt, age 22, from Palatine, Illinois, Tazewell county.
Parents: Stanley Arendt
Spouse: Nelda
Children: Lamar, 3
Service era: Korea
Schools: Palatine High graduate
Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: On February 5, 2010, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Corporal Stanley Paul Arendt, missing from the Korean War. Corporal Stanley Paul Arendt entered the U.S. Army from Illinois and served in Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. He was captured in early November 1950 during the Battle of Unsan. Repatriated American POWs reported that CPL Arendt was in a group of soldiers that were executed by their captors near the battlefield. In 2004, a joint U.S. and North Korean team excavated a mass grave near the battlefield at Unsan and recovered the remains of the executed American service members. Analysts used modern forensic tools to identify CPL Arendt from among these remains.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Chicago Tribune (1950)
George Raymond Reeser, age 25, from Washington, Illinois, Tazewell county.
Parents: Levi and Esther Reeser
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Monday, November 22, 1943
Death details: On March 27, 2020, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) accounted for Sgt. George Raymond Reeser, missing from World War II. Reeser, who joined the U.S. Marine Corps from Illinois, served with Company A, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. On November 22, 1943, he was killed at some point in the Second Marine Division’s invasion of Betio Island, during the Battle of Tarawa. His remains were recovered and buried in Row D at the U.S. Marine Cemetery 33 on Betio, but his remains were not recovered or identified after the war. In 2009, the non-profit organization History Flight Inc., located a burial trench on Betio Island, in an area west of Cemetery 33 and identified as Row D. Remains recovered from the burial trench were turned over to DPAA and accessioned for analysis, and based on historical details including burial location, and circumstantial and medical record analysis, these remains were later identified as those of Reeser.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Albert Strange, age 18, from Pekin, Illinois, Tazewell county.
Parents: Walter F. Strange
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: On September 18, 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced its identification of the remains of Private First Class Albert Strange, missing from World War II. Private First Class Strange, who entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Illinois, was a member of Company E, 2nd Marine Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, which took part in the Battle of Tarawa. On November 20, 1943, he was killed in action during the U.S. assault on the Japanese-controlled Betio Island in Tarawa Attol. PFC Strange was reportedly buried in a cemetery on Betio, but investigations of the area immediately after the war failed to locate or identify his remains. In 2017, DPAA partnered with History Flight Group, Inc., and returned to Betio where they located sites believed to contain the remains of U.S. military members. Following excavation of one of the sites, human remains and material evidence were collected and accessioned to a DPAA laboratory. U.S. analysts used modern forensic techniques to identify PFC Strange from among these collective remains.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Howard F. Lyons from Illinois, Tazewell county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Wednesday, September 16, 1942
Death details: Died, non-battle
Cemetery: Zachery Taylor National
Source: National Archives, grave marker
William August Klasing, age 19, from Trenton, Illinois, Tazewell county.
Parents: Theodore Klasing
Service era: World War II
Date of death: December 7, 1941. Killed aboard the USS Oklahoma. Accounted for February 4, 2019
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency