Larry Dean Boyer, age 24, from Carmi, Illinois, White county.
Parents: Mr. and Mrs. Walter Brown
Spouse: Lynette Boyer
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Wednesday, January 21, 1970
Death details: Hostile, killed in South Vietnam
Source: National Archives, Southern Illinoisan
Carl E. Sheraden from Illinois, White county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Monday, November 27, 1950
Death details: Remains not recovered
Source: National Archives
Herman Lynn Brothers from Ashley, Illinois, White county.
Parents: Lewis Brothers
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: During the last week of October 1950, Republic of Korea (ROK) Army forces under the control of the U.S. Eighth Army were advancing deep in North Korean territory, approaching the Yalu River on the Chinese-Korean border. Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) struck back in a surprise attack, engaging the ROK 1st and 6th Divisions near Unsan, some sixty miles north of Pyongyang. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, with the 8th Cavalry Regiment in the lead, was rushed forward to reinforce the ROK units in the Unsan area. On November 1, the regiment’s 1st Battalion took up positions north of Unsan, while the 2nd Battalion moved to guard the Nammyon River valley west of town, and the 3rd Battalion was placed in reserve at the valley’s southern end. Master Sergeant Herman Lynn Brothers, who joined the U.S. Army from Connecticut, was a member of Company B of the 2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion. In late October of 1950, MSG Brothers was with the rest of Company B in the Unsan area to support ROK forces in the region. After midnight on November 1, U.S. forces in the Unsan area were ordered to withdraw to avoid being surrounded by the enemy. However, Company B was unable to withdraw due to the strong enemy presence, and MSG Brothers was killed during the subsequent fighting. His remains were not recovered, and he is still unaccounted for. Today, Master Sergeant Brothers is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Mount Vernon Register News (1950)
Merle B. Porter, age 26, from Illinois, White county.
Spouse: Ruby F. Porter (died in 2015 at age 93 in Enfield)
Child: Merle Ann, 1. In 1983, she was killed by her ex-husband in nearby Olney.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Friday, November 24, 1944
Death details: Died, non-battle; plane crash near Trinity, Texas
Cemetery: Enfield, Illinois
Source: National Archives, grave marker, Olney Daily Mail (1983), Wayne County Press (1983), court documents
William T. Wooten, age 20, from Illinois, White county.
Service era: World War II
Military history: Signal Air Warning Company
Date of death: Wednesday, July 8, 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. Staff Sergeant William T. Wooten joined the U.S. Army from Illinois and was a member of the Signal Air Warning Company in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender on April 9, 1942, and died of dysentery and malaria on July 8, 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, Staff Sergeant Wooten is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency