Partial Listing of Servicemen from Phillips County Who Died in Service Or Soon After due To Their Injuries

The Casualties of War List of the State of Montana lists the following Servicemen from Phillips County.

WWI: William Boettcher, Paul Burnham, Harold Clark, Chrision Kerp, Oscar Larum, Fred McGillis, Lawrence Rawdon, Carl Schultz, George Swanke, and Gust Swanson.

WWII: John Albus, Thomas Appelhans, Mathew Armstrong, Carl Brun, Benjamin Chopwood, Kenneth Combes, Pete Demarais, Norman Deo, Ralph Freburg, Howard Hayes, Willard Holmquist, Byron Hurley, Merle Kaasa, Edward Kuntz, Glen Lyden, Arthur Newton, Clifford Pehlke, Harold Piper, Lancer Robertson, Rudolfo Rodriques, Raymond Scheele, Mike Short, Henry Sloan, Walston Smith, Edward Thompson, Paul Utter, Clarence Watkins, Edgar Williams, Farion Williams, and Pius Wing.

Korea Forward: Richard Appelhans, Louis Healy, Kenneth Knudson, Jeremy Scott Monroe-Sandvick, Larry Schwartz, Truman Walsh, and Paul Weigand.

Mine and others’ research into newspapers, other government sources, and books have discovered a larger additional list of servicemen who died in service, service-time accidents, or soon after due to their wounds and lost out on a productive post-service life.

WWI: Henry Apel, Guy Bogart, Charles Bruce, Bernard Campson, LeRoy Carroll, Claude Cody, William Fanning, Archie Feerseth, Ward Hovey, Casper Hueschle, Melvin Johnson, Clifton Jordan, George Leahy, Raymond Mantel, Julian McGillis, Ray Reed, Carl Salee, Ralph Sauve, Charles Schmitz, Walter Seuzer, Charles Swanson, Ralph Toomey, Nemyl Turpin, Oscar Ulness, George Whiting, and Stewart Baby.

WWII: John Aumbers, William Banning, Sydney Bebee, Louis Beudry, John Crouch, William Cruickshank, Donald Egholm, Joseph Gunn, Eugene Gwartney, Woodrow Hamilton, Glen Hein, Lloyd Hoynes, Kenneth Keith, Merrel Kessler, Raymond Merrel, Wallace Mummey, Joseph Murphy, James Myers, Robert Oleson, Lee Pancake, Earl Peters, Albert Rasmussen, Robert Rott, Burhl Schulz, George Simmons, George Solberg, Earl South William Steinberger, True St. John, Wayne Stiles, Eugene Thomas, and Frank Wheeler.

Korea Forward: Leroy Azure, Shane Barnard, William Cotter, Dennis Grant, and Gary Salsbery.

Listings are only partially complete thru WWII, so pass on other info to the American Legion Historian, Post 57.

According to the records I have found so far, the following is a list of awardees of the 2nd highest military awards for heroism/conduct beyond duty from Phillips County.

Pvt. Arthur Aamot (Saco), Pvt. Clifford Jordan (Malta), Lt. Clayton Evans (Malta), Pvt. George Whitcomb (Malta/Zortman), Herman Wallenmaier (Valleytown), and Lee Pancake (Malta).

Some War History and the Military Awards

Deaths in Service All USA Wars

War Participants Deaths

American Revolution (1775-1784) 290,000 4,000

War of 1812 (1812-1815) 287,000 2,000

Indian Wars (1817-1898) 106,000 1,000

Mexican War (1846-1848) 79,000 13,000

Civil War (1861-1865)

Confederate 1,000,000 133,821

Union 2,213,000 364,000

Spanish-American War (1898-1902) 392,000 11,000

WWI (1917-1918) 4,744,000 116,000

WWII (9/6/1940-7/25/1947) 16,535,000 364,000

Korean War 6,807,000 55,000

Vietnam Era 9,200,000 109,000

Persian War (8/2/1990-6/30/1992) 2,293,000 3,056

Ranking of Awards

1. Medal of Honor (by President)

2. Cross of Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, or Coast Guard

3. Silver Star

4. Distinguished Flying Cross

5. Bronze Star

6. Purple Heart