Edward Mitchell Engebretsen, age 19, from Waupaca County Waupaca, Wisconsin .
Parents: Lee Edward Engebretsen
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Monday, August 6, 1945
Death details: Killed aboard USS Bullhead SS-332 when it was sunk by air attack near the Lombok Strait.
Source: National Archives, On Eternal Patrol
David H. Freiburger, age 29, from Wisconsin, Waupaca county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, March 18, 1945
Death details: Died of wounds
Cemetery: Most Precious Blood in New London, Wisconsin
Source: National Archives, grave marker
John Anderson Jr. Sundby, age 18, from Waupaca County Waupaca, Wisconsin .
Parents: John A. Sundby Sr.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Friday, September 22, 1944
Death details: In September 1944, American forces launched Operation STALEMATE II, the invasion on Peleliu, an island in Palau. On Sept. 15, the 1st Marine Division came ashore under enemy fire. The following day, Marines secured the island’s airfield despite taking heavy casualties. The battle for Peleliu lasted another two months, as Marines were forced to clear heavily fortified pockets of Japanese resistance across the island. The 1st Marine Division, reinforced by the 81st Infantry Division, slowly advanced north under nearly constant mortar and artillery fire. The invasion of Peleliu had the highest casualty rate of all the amphibious Pacific Island invasions of World War II. Private First Class John Anderson Sundby Jr., who joined the U.S. Marine Corps in Wisconsin, was a member of Company C, 6th Amphibian Tractor Battalion, and took part in Operation STALEMATE II on Peleliu island. On September 22, 1944, he was killed in action, but the circumstances surrounding his loss were unknown at the time and his remains were not recovered. Attempts to locate his remains following the end of hostilities have been unsuccessful, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Private First Class Sundby is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Appleton Post Crescent (1944)
Jay S. Whitney, age 24, from Waupaca County Waupaca, Wisconsin .
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Sunday, February 9, 1919
Death details: Died of disease
Source: Soldiers of the Great War