Donald Neil Pensyl, age 20, from Wellsville, New York, Allegany county.
Spouse: Betty J. Pensyl
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Monday, August 30, 1971
Death details: Non-hostile, illness, South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1971)
Donald Earl Thompson from Wellsville, New York, Allegany county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: February 4, 1967
Death details: On March 7, 2003, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Commander Donald Earl Thompson, missing from the Vietnam War.
Commander Thompson entered the U.S. Navy from New York and served with Fighter Squadron 213, Carrier Air Wing 11. On February 4, 1967, he piloted an F-4B Phantom II (bureau number 153007, call sign “Black Lion 102”) that took off from the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) on a reconnaissance mission along the coast of North Vietnam. During the mission, the aircraft crashed and burned for unknown reasons, killing CDR Thompson. Enemy presence prevented a ground search of the crash site, and his remains were not recovered at the time. In 2001, a joint investigative team traveled to the crash site where they recovered human remains from a burial site that correlated to this loss, and in 2003, U.S. investigators were able to identify CDR Thompson from those remains.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
William Richard Sadewasser, age 24, from Allegany County Wellsville, New York .
Parents: Herman Sadwasser
Service era: Korea
Schools: Wellsville High graduate
Military history: World War II veteran
Date of death: Tuesday, November 28, 1950
Death details: On March 17, 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Corporal William Richard Sadewasser, missing from the Korean War. Corporal Sadewasser, who joined the U.S. Army from New York, served with the Headquarters Battery, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division, a unit which was part of the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT). On November 27, the 31st RCT was holding defensive positions on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea when it was attacked by Chinese Communist Forces (CCF). He was reported missing in action on November 28 and died at some point during or after this action, although the circumstances surrounding his loss are unknown. In 2004, a joint U.S. and North Korean recovery team working on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir recovered a set of remains that were eventually identified as those of CPL Sadewasser. Corporal Sadewasser 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, Buffalo News (1951)
Maurice Elgin Weller from Allegany County Wellsville, New York .
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Sunday, March 1, 1942
Death details: Killed aboard the USS Houston when the ship was attacked traveling from Batavia to Java.
Source: National Arvhies, USSHouston.org, Times Herald (1945)