Promote & Preserve stories of U.S. fallen soldiers/sailors
Jonathan Roy Kephart, age 21, from Oil City, Pennsylvania, Venango county.
Service era: Iraq – Operation Iraqi Freedom
Military history: 230th Military Police Company, Apo Ae 09227 (Kaiserslautern, Ge)
Date of death: Friday, April 9, 2004
Death details: Hostile, died in Baghdad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense
Shawn A. Mayerscik, age 22, from Oil City, Pennsylvania, Venango county.
Parents: Steve Mayerscik and Kathileen Mayerscik
Spouse: None
Military history: 2nd Ranger Battalion
Date of death: Tuesday, March 11, 2003
Death details: Among 11 soldiers who died when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training mission in Fort Drum, New York.
Source: New York Times, Army Times
Paul Edward Reed, age 30, from Franklin, Pennsylvania, Venango county.
Spouse: Bonnie
Children: Aleta, 5; Paul Jr. 2
Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Franklin High
Date of death: Saturday, October 31, 1970
Death details: Died of wounds received in action in Vietnam. He was in his bunker when fragments of a grenade hit him.
Source: National Archives
George W. Jr. Daniels, age 20, from Franklin, Pennsylvania, Venango county.
Parents: Maebelle Daniels and George W. Daniels Sr.
Service era: Vietnam
Military history: 51st Medical Company
Date of death: Friday, October 9, 1970
Death details: Died of coronary arrest at base hospital in Vietnam
Source: National Archives, New Herald (1970)
Roger Orrie Wells, age 20, from Pleasantville, Pennsylvania, Venango county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Thursday, September 17, 1970
Death details: Hostile, died in South Vietnam.
Cemetery: Fairview in Pleasantville
Source: National Archives, Franklin News Herald (1970)
John Frederick Jr. Budke, age 18, from Venango County Pennsylvania.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, November 30, 1950
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 John Frederick Budke entered the U.S. Army from Pennsylvania and served in L Company of the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. During the withdrawal to Sunchon, the 23rd Infantry Regiment established a defensive area at Hill 201 on the south side of the Namdae River. Several clashes with CCF occurred during this time, and SGT Budke was captured by the advancing enemy. He was put in a group of other prisoners of war (POWs) forced to march to a prison camp on the banks of the Yalu River, though SGT Budke died before reaching the camp. His remains were not recovered, and he was not identified among those returned to the U.S. following the war. Today, Sergeant Budke 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
Nevin K. Woods, age 21, from Pennsylvania, Venango county.
Service era: World War II
Military history: Headquarters Squadron V Interceptor Command
Date of death: Friday, July 3, 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. Private First Class Nevin K. Woods entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Pennsylvania and served with Headquarters Squadron, V 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 malaria on July 3, 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, Private First Class Woods is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Robert William Jr. Clark, age 21, from Venango County Pleasantville, Pennsylvania .
Parents: Robert William Clark
Service era: World War II
Schools: Pleasantville High graduate, Allegheny College
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: Killed at Pearl Harbor
Source: National Archives, Oil City Derrick (1941)
Frank Riddle Fleming from Franklin, Pennsylvania, Venango county.
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Friday, October 11, 1918
Death details: Died of disease
Cemetery: Franklin
Source: Soldiers of the Great War, findagrave.com
Ollie O. Hartzell, age 23, from Venango County Emlenton, Pennsylvania .
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Saturday, October 5, 1918
Death details: Died of disease
Source: Soldiers of the Great War