Michael Woodrow Hunter, age 26, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Washtenaw county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, January 28, 1970
Death details: Hostile, killed, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives
Charles William Easterday from Michigan, Washtenaw county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, November 16, 1950
Death details: On July 11, 1950, the U.S. Army’s 21st Infantry Regiment, which had arrived in Korea six days earlier, was placed in defensive positions near the town of Chochiwon, South Korea. The regiment was not at full strength and lacked artillery and anti-tank weapons. That day, they were attacked by North Korean forces and were forced to withdraw to avoid being surrounded, as well as to buy time until they could be reinforced and resupplied. Corporal Charles William Easterday, who joined the U.S. Army from Michigan, served with L Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on July 11, as his unit fought a series of delaying actions between Pyongt’aek and Chochiwon. He was forced to march north to the Apex prison camps near the Yalu River in North Korea, and died of exhaustion and pneumonia on November 16, at Hanjang-ni. He was buried on the hillside behind the village; however his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Corporal Easterday is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Henry Delbert Mathus, age 19, from Michigan, Washtenaw county.
Parents: Delbert Mathus
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Wednesday, November 1, 1950
Death details: On November 15, 2004, Joint Task Force–Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Corporal Henry Delbert Mathus, missing from the Korean War. Corporal Mathus entered the U.S. Army from Michigan and served with Company G of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 1, 1950, CPL Mathus was supporting elements of the 1st Cavalry Division near Unsan, north of the Chong’chon River in northwestern North Korea. On November 1, 1950, Chinese Communist Forces overran the 1st Cavalry’s positions, forcing a fighting withdrawal to a new defensive position south of the Chong’chon River. CPL Mathus did not survive this combat, though the details surrounding his loss are not recorded and his body was not recovered at the time. In 1997, a joint U.S./North Korean investigative team recovered human remains from an unmarked grave in the vicinity of Unsan, associated with a U.S. soldier from the 8th Cavalry Regiment; U.S. analysts identified CPL Mathus from these remains.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Park City Daily News (1950)
Robert B. Malcolm from Michigan, Washtenaw county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Tuesday, June 23, 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 Robert B. Malcolm entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Michigan and served in the 17th Bombardment Squadron, 27th Bombardment Group in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender on April 9, 1942, and died of dysentery on June 23, 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 Malcom is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency