In the Line of Duty 1925 - 1974

Sergeant Thomas J. Brown

Sergeant Thomas J. "Tommy" Brown of Madisonville, age 34, drowned on January 23rd while on state active duty in response to the flood of 1937. He was assigned to Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion of the 149th Infantry from Madisonville. He is the only known Kentucky National Guardsman who perished on duty during the great flood of 1937. 
According to newspaper accounts, Brown and Second Lieutenant James L. Moore, Private C. W. Anthony and a civilian, Emmett Ashby, were in a boat that lost its stern from vibrations from an outboard motor and quickly sank by the stern throwing all four into the nine-foot deep water. The other three were able to swim to shallow waters but did suffer from exposure and shock. Brown was last seen clinging to the boat bow debris before he sank from sight. The Guardsmen were on a survey mission to assess conditions in Ashbyburg and Jewel City area and Ashby was catching a ride to Ashbyburg in hopes of getting another ride closer to his home. Brown was a butcher in civilian life and was married and had one child.
Brown’s battalion commander, Oren Coin, wrote a letter to a legislative committee on the widow’s behalf in December of 1937 seeking some sort of relief for his family. SGT Brown’s death most likely was the beginning of the push for the state’s death gratuity for Kentucky National Guardsmen who die on State Active Duty missions.

 

Captain Thomas Francis Mantell Jr.

On January 7, 1948, while on training flight with three other P-51Ds (Mustang) Mantell was directed by flight tower at Godman Field to pursue an unidentified flying object.  While in pursuit of object, he died in a plane crash near Franklin, Simpson County, Kentucky. He was also born in Franklin, Kentucky. CPT Mantell was the first flight casualty of the Kentucky Air National Guard. 

 

 

Captain Richard Lee Ross

Captain Richard Lee Ross, 32, of Prospect (Jefferson County) died on 1 October 1950 in an aircraft accident near West Point Kentucky during a training flight. He was a member of the 165th Fighter Squadron, Kentucky Air National Guard.

 

 

 

Captain Merlin R. Kehrer

On March 30, 1951, Capt. Merlin R. Kehrer perished in the crash of his F-51 near Leesburg, Va., while he was returning to Louisville from Bolling AFB, D.C.  He was a member of the Kentucky Air National Guard.

 

 

 

 

First Lieutenant Eugene Louis Ruiz

First Lieutenant Eugene Louis Ruiz was the first combat casualty from the 123d when he was shot down in Korea July 2, 1951 as a member of the 45 TAC RECON SQDN 543 TAC SPT GROUP.

 

 

 

First Lieutenant George Conder

First Lieutenant George Conder perished on July 15, 1951 during a massive flight demonstration when two F-51s collided in mid-air. The mishap took the lives of Capt. George Conder of Louisville and 1st LT. Clarence G. Combs of Parkersburg, W. Va.

 

 

Captain John William Shewmaker

Captain John William Shewmaker of Harrodsburg was a pilot with the 165th Fighter Squadron for several years and went to Korea with the 111th Fighter-Bomber Squadron and was killed while flying an escort mission over North Korea on a bombing raid on 23 October 1951. He was classified missing in action until the end of 1953. The Kentucky Air National Guard base was named Shewmaker Air National Guard Base in his honor on 17 February 1959 with a public ceremony in June 1960. The name was ordered changed in 1976 with the new designation of Standiford Field (ANG).

 

First Lieutenant Lawrence Bertrand Kelly

First Lieutenant Lawrence Bertrand Kelly of Louisville (Jefferson County) died in Korea while serving on active duty flying a F-80 with the 80th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 8 FTR Bomb Group. He was declared missing on 16 December 1951 and his status was changed from MIA to KIA on 31 December 1953. (No Photo Available)

 

 

Lieutenant Colonel Lee J. Merkel

Lieutenant Colonel Lee J. Merkel perished on 31 January 1956 when the F-51 aircraft he was piloting crashed ten miles north of Bedford, Indiana. Merkel had previously served as wing commander, air technician and first base detachment commander as well as commander of the 123d Fighter Interceptor Group.

 

 

First Lieutenant Owen W. Turner

First Lieutenant Owen W. Turner, 29, of Pleasure Ridge (Jefferson County) died when his burning plane crashed near Piedmont, Alabama on 28 January 1957 some sixty miles west of Atlanta. Turner was flying a T-28 from the Naval Air Station at Atlanta for a navigational proficiency flight to Standiford Field.  Turner decided to return to Atlanta because of worsening weather conditions in his flight path. Turner joined the KyANG in 1948 and was a member of the 165th Fighter Interceptor Squadron.

 

Second Lieutenant Richard L. Hudson

Second Lieutenant Richard L. Hudson perished on 30 October 1957 near Vevay, Indiana when the Kentucky Air National Guard F-86 jet he was piloting crashed during an Air Defense Command scramble.

 

 

 

 

 

Captain Robert W. Sawyer

Capt Robert W. “Buz” Sawyer was killed in an aircraft crash near Kansas City, Missouri on 05 August 1968 in a RF-101. He was a member of the 165th Tac Recon Sq on federal duty at Richards Gabeur AFB Missouri during the Pueblo call up.

 

 

Lieutenant Colonel William L. Smith

LTC William Leo Smith of Louisville, Jefferson County, died on 27 November 1968 in an aircraft accident when the UH-1 Helicopter he was a passenger on crashed off the coast of Kangnung, Korea in the Sea of Japan while he was on extended active duty. Smith joined the Kentucky Army National Guard's Battery C of the 138th Field Artillery Battalion in Louisville in February 1949. He left the Guard in January 1954 as a Private. Apparently after a break in service of an undetermined time he returned to the Kentucky Army National Guard and the Field Artillery as an officer and eventually went onto federal active duty. Kentucky Special Orders Number 111 separated him from the Army National Guard effective 27 November 1968, his presumed date of death, from an extra TOE position.  Weather was probably a factor in the crash with flying conditions at the time described as marginal with a heavy cloud cover from 700' to 9,000'. An AP story at the time states that the aircraft was returning from a routine "service mission" that afternoon. Dropped off radar at approx 4 p.m. The aircraft, assigned to the 6th Aviation Platoon, I Corps, US Army, was returning to its base at Kangnung, located approximately 100 miles east of Seoul.  Search and rescue operations failed to locate the missing aircraft and were called off on December 4. He is listed as having died of non-hostile causes. His death occurred while the 2nd Battalion, 138th Field Artillery (Louisville, Bardstown, Elizabethtown, and Carrollton) were serving in Vietnam. It is unknown if his deployment was in any way associated with the 2nd, 138th.

 

Sergeant Bertram A. Carr

Sergeant Bertram A. "Sonny" Carr, Louisville, KY, of B Battery 2-138th Artillery was killed in Vietnam on 1 June 1969 near Hamburger Hill. He was originally a member of Service Battery. (No Photo Available)

 

Staff Sergeant Harold M. Brown

SSG Harold Milton Brown, Mt. Washington, KY, formerly Battery C 2-138th Artillery was killed by rocket fire while in a bunker in Chu Lai while serving with Battery C, 1st Battalion, 82nd Artillery Americal Division on 11 June 1969 in Vietnam.

 

 

 

 

Private First Class Joseph R. McIlvoy

Private First Class Joseph R. McIlvoy, Mackville, KY, of "C" Battery, 2d Battalion, 138th Field Artillery was killed on June 19, 1969 at Firebase TOMAHAWK in Vietnam.

 

 

 

 

 

Specialist 4 Ronald E. Simpson

Specialist 4 Ronald E. Simpson, Bardstown, KY, of "C" Battery, 2d Battalion, 138th Field Artillery was killed on June 19, 1969 at Firebase TOMAHAWK in Vietnam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Specialist 4 David B. Collins

Specialist 4 David B. Collins of "C" Battery, 2d Battalion, 138th Field Artillery was killed on June 19, 1969 at Firebase TOMAHAWK in Vietnam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sergeant James T. Moore

Sergeant James T. Moore, Bardstown, KY, of "C" Battery, 2d Battalion, 138th Field Artillery was killed on June 19, 1969 at Firebase TOMAHAWK in Vietnam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Sergeant Luther M. Chappel

First Sergeant Luther M. Chappel, Worthville, KY, of "C" Battery, 2d Battalion, 138th Field Artillery was killed on June 19, 1969 at Firebase TOMAHAWK in Vietnam.

 

 

 

 

McIlvoy, Simpson, Collins, Moore and Chappel, members of "C" Battery, 2d Battalion, 138th Field Artillery, were killed on June 19, 1969 when Firebase TOMAHAWK in Vietnam was attacked during the early morning hours in a pouring rain by North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers. Sappers infiltrated the base and during the attack threw some 150 satchel charges into the bunkers in addition to firing rocket propelled grenades.  The battle went on some two hours before the NVA were forced to retreat. The attack destroyed an ammunition storage area, four of the six M-109 self-propelled howitzers, nine bunkers, the mess hall, dining tent, maintenance building, four ammunition carriers, three 2 1/2-ton trucks, two 3/4-ton trucks, and three jeeps. The Battery had nine men killed; five of them were from Bardstown and the other four were non-Guard replacements from various, non-Kentucky, locations. The unit also suffered 37 wounded. A platoon of infantrymen from the 101st Airborne Division was providing perimeter security for the firebase and four of the 101st soldiers were killed and another 13 wounded.

 

Sergeant James Allen Wray

SGT James Allen Wray, formerly Battery C 2-138th Artillery, was killed on 2 July 1969 in Vietnam while serving with Battery B, 1st Bn 40th Artillery, 108th Art Grp.

 

 

 

 

Major Billy Joe Williams

Major Billy Joe Williams of Marion (Crittenden County) died from enemy fire in the line of duty on 6 May 1970 in Vietnam. He began his tour in Vietnam on 5 August 1969 with Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) Advance Team 3. His name is on the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the US Vietnam Veterans Memorial. He was a former member of the Kentucky Army National Guard, joining on 3 June 1955 as serving as a Sergeant and a Radar Chief for Battery C, 640th Field Artillery Observation. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant November 1956. He was ordered to Active Duty with the 3rd Medium Tank Battalion of the 123rd Armor on 1 October 1961 for one year. He was promoted to Captain in November 1963 and Major in November 1968 in the Armor Branch. Prior to joining the Kentucky Guard he served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve as a Truck Master from Mar 1951 to May 1952. In his civilian life he was the Vice President and Merchandise Manager for Williams Department Store in Marion.

Private First Class Lanny Kay Brown

PFC Lanny K. Brown, 20, of Monticello (Wayne County) died on 15 July 1970, during Annual Training at Fort Knox. He was a member of C Battery, 1st Battalion of the 623rd Field Artillery. Brown was standing inside a squad tent in the unit bivouac area at approximately 8:30 p.m. during a violent thunderstorm when he was electrocuted by a lightening strike. Brown joined the Kentucky Army National Guard on 12 June 1968. He was promoted to Private First Class on 6 June 1969. He was attending only his second Annual Training with the unit. This marker is located near the flag pole at the Monticello Armory. (No Photo PFC Brown is currently available)

 

Captain Roger M. Sanders

Captain Roger M. Sanders died on 14 Sep 1971 when his RF-101 Voodoo crashed shortly after takeoff.  He was able to eject but did not survive his injuries from the incident. Sanders was taking off simultaneously with another aircraft for a night refueling exercise. The other aircraft landed safely in Indiana.