Sullivan County Pennsylvania
World War Two Casualties
Overview

Author's Preface: My Memorial Day project in 2019 was to learn about the young men from Sullivan County Pennsylvania that made the ultimate sacrifice in WWII. I got started on this when I was reviewing the 1946-1950 Sullivan Reviews and noticed quite a few articles in 1947/48 period covering the return of soldiers for burial in Sullivan County following the war. This got me interested so I pulled more data from Fold3 (free that weekend) and Find A Grave and complied all the data in a spreadsheet as you can see below. These soldiers are the real heros of Sullivan County and, as we approach the 75th Anniversary of the end of WWII, I thought it would be good to share. I learned a lot in the process and only increased my admiration for those that served in WWII.

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An article from the December 11, 1947, Sullivan Review references 29 WWII Casualties from Sullivan County PA as reported by the State Military Affairs Department. However, based on WWII records it appears that the actual number was 30, with 27 from the Army, 2 from the Navy and 1 from the Marine Corps (details below). The misstatement is most likely attributable to Lt Wayne Shelley. Official Casualty records reference his address in Harrisburg but draft registration as Forksville.

Brothers: There were two sets of brothers among the WWII Casualties from Sullivan County PA. Pvt Thomas Anthony Cahill, Jr - Private, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, US Army. Entered the service from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Killed in action at Anzio. Awarded the Purple Heart. He is buried two graves away from his brother. S Sgt Eugene F Cahill - Staff Sergeant, 549th Bomber Squadron, 385th Bomber Group, Heavy; U.S. Army Air Forces. Killed in action; shot down over Friesack, Havelland, Brandenburg, Germany. Awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart. CPL Keith M Shelley - United States Army Air Corps. Killed in the crash of a B-17G Flying Fortress Bomber on August 3, 1944 at Gander, Newfoundland. Interred in the Gettysburg National Cemetery on December 3, 1947. Lt Wayne Shelley - Killed in an airplane crash while serving in the Pacific theater. Wayne, the Patrol Plane Commander, and two others died, while seven were rescued when their plane crashed at sea during a patrol flight. Manila - Missing in Action or Buried at Sea,

Army Casualties (27) * Source: https://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww2/army-casualties/pennsylvania.html
Navy Casualties (2) Lt Wayne Shelley (Sources: WWII Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Casualty List - Fold3, WWII Draft Registration Cards - Fold3, 12/11/1947 Sullivan Review.) Henry B Shaffer (Source: Sullivan Review 9/16/1948)
Marine Casualties (1) Joseph Rokus (Sources: WWII Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Casualty List - Fold3, 5/27/1948 Sullivan Review

Prepared by Jim Yonkin
June 2019  
Name Military Data Fold Records  Attachments   Enlistment Record        
Last First  M ID Branch Rank Status Card Mon Enlist Record OBIT
Articles
Pictures		 Home Town Enlist Date Army Branch Birth    Date Death Date Buried  Regiment Awards 
Brink Robert  E 13093672 US Army Air Force S SG FOD   X     Eagles Mere     5/12/1923 3/29/1944
(At Sea) (Age 20)  Declared Dead 7/29/1944		 Manila- Missing in Action or Buried at Sea 424 th Bomber Squadron, 307th Bomber Group, Heavy Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with Oal Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart
Caccia Edward   33606135 Army PVT KIA X X X Obit Mildred 5/28/1943   12/21/1911 7/15/1944 Florence American Cemetery, Plot F Row 8 Grave 31, Florence Italy  362nd Infantry Reg, 91st Infantry Div Purple Heart
Cahill Eugene F 13007620 US Army Air Force S SG KIA   X X   Colley 10/11/1940 Medical Adm 1916 10/6/1944
 (Age 28)		 Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Plot 1 Row14 Grave 66, Nettuno, Italy 549th Bomber Squadron, 385th Bomber Group, Heavy.  Shot down over Friesack, Havelland, Brandenburg, Germany. Buried two graves from his brother.  Air Medal, Purple Heart
Cahill Thomas , Jr A 33610505 Army PVT KIA   X X   Colley 8/28/1943   1920 5/23/1944
 (Age 23-24)		 Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Plot 1 Row15 Grave 67, Nettuno, Italy 30th Infantry Reg, 3rd Infantry Div.  KIA Anzio, Italy.  Buried two graves from his brother.  Purple Heart
Carpenter Harry D 33359693 Army CPL KIA       Obit/Photo Dushore  11/25/1942   8/30/1919 4/11/1945
 (Age 25)		 Fairview Cemetery, Dushore PA KIA at the Ruhr Pocket in Germany.  CPL 24 Tank BN 13 Armored Div.  "The Black Cats"  
Connell John P 33352459 Army PFC DOW     X Obit/Photo Dushore 8/27/1942   5/22/1912 10/23/1945
(Age 32)		 St. Basil's, Dushore PA 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Division
Died of Wounds (DOW)  on Leyte, Philippine Islands		  
Farrell John A. A 33355301 Army PFC KIA   X   Photo Dushore     4/15/1921 7/11/1944
 (Age 23)		 Normandy American Cemetery, Plot E Row 14 Grave 23, Colleville-sur-Mer, France 329th Infantry Reg, 83rd Infantry Div Purple Heart
Hoag Raymond E 13005280 US Army Air Force PFC FOD   X X   Dushore 8/16/1940 Air Corps 4/8/1922 4/21/1942
 (At Sea) (Age 20)		 Manila- Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Declared "Missing in Action" when his B-26 developed engine trouble on a training flight from Port Moresby to Garbutt ield, Australia and ditched in the Coral Sea during the War. 		 2nd Bomber Squadron, 22nd Bomber Group.
B-26 #40 -1419, 2nd Bomber Squadron, 22nd Bomber Group, Medium		 Purple Heart
Kerr James C 7021880 Army PVT KIA   X X     2/1/1940 Regular Army 1916 4/8/1942
 (Age 25-26)		 Manila- Missing in Action or Buried at Sea 19th Squadron, 20th Air Base Group Purple Heart
Kinsley John A 33604478 Army PFC KIA       Obit/Photo Cherry Township 4/28/1943   1920 2/7/1944
 (Age 23-24)		 Fairview Cemetery, Dushore PA 15th Inf. Regt., Fifth Army
KIA - Italy
  
Kratcoski Edward J 33604479 Army PVT KIA       Obit/Photo Bernice 4/28/1943   9/27/1913 2/24/1944
 (Age 30)		 St. Francis of Assissi Cemetery, Mildred 3rd Infantry Division
KIA - Anzio Beach , Italy		  
Kravitz Frank   33359701 Army PFC KIA   X   Photo Lopez     2/16/1922 10/17/1944
 (Age 22)		 Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France
Plot C Row 13 Grave 37		 2nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron Purple Heart
Lavey Thomas , Jr R 33458946 Army PFC KIA     X Obit Cherry Township 12/26/1942   8/9/1922 7/15/1944
 (Age 21)		 St. Basil's, Dushore PA 329th Infantry Reg, 83rd Infantry Div
Landed on Omaha Beach, KIA France		  
Lutkiewicz Frank L 33352646 Army PVT KIA   X X     8/29/1942   1914 2/3/1943
 (Age 27-28)		 East Coast - Missing in Action or Buried at Sea US Army Purple Heart
Miller Merl H 33612133 Army PFC KIA   X X Photo   10/22/1943   1917 9/16/1944 Ardennes American Cemetery, Plot B Row 25 Grave 10, Neupre, Belgium 22nd Infantry Reg, 4th Infantry Div Purple Heart
Nitcznski Clemences (Clement) J 33135151 Army PFC KIA X X X Obit Dushore 1/20/1942   12/11/1918 6/18/1944 (Age 25) Normandy American Cemetery,
 Plot F Row 19 Grave 10,
Colleville-sur-Mer, France		 12th Infantry Reg, 4th Infantry Div Purple Heart
Orlowski Albert J 33135152 Army TEC 5 DNB     X Obit Mildred 1/20/1942   1918 1945
 (Age 26-27)		 Shepherd Hills Trinity Lutheran Chapel Cemetery, Mildred, Sullivan County PA Died in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where he had been receiving treatment for Malaria contracted in the South Pacific. Served in Australia, New Guinea and the Philippines.   
Palmer Jesse A 7021889 Army PFC DNB   X X     2/2/1940   1890 10/24/1944 Manila- Missing in Action or Buried at Sea 59th Coast Artillery Regiment Purple Heart
Rokus Joseph     Marines PVT         Photo
Obit		 Bernice Jan-41   12/15/1920 10/16/1942
 (Age 21)		 St. Francis Cemetery, Mildred First Marine Regiment
Unit strafed by Japanese Air Pilots - Solomon Island Campaign during the siege of Guadalcanal		 Purple Heart
Romania Andrew   33347609 Army PFC DNB   X X   Lopez 6/30/1942   2/22/1919 9/1/1945
 (Age 26)		 Saint Peter and Pauls Byzantine Catholic Cemetery, Lopez, Sullivan County, PA Fatally injured by a motor vehicle at Camp Butner, N. C.  Three weeks after spending a 30-day furlough at Lopez on his return from 15 months of fighting in Europe  
Schaefer Richard E 13116398 US Army Air Force S SG DNB     X   Colley 9/16/1942 Air Corps 1923 7/19/1943
(Age 19-20)		 Colley Cemetery, Colley, Sullivan County PA Gunner S/Sgt.  464th 331st Bombardment Group
A Casper, WY based B-24E "Liberator "heavy bomber spun out of the clouds and crashed and burned in Taylor Canyon, a rugged, forested area about 25 miles northeast of Gunnison. No one managed to escape from the aircraft. The aircraft was on a cross county and navigation flight from Casper, WY to El Paso, TX and return.		  
Shaffer Henry B. B   Navy S 2-c         Obit/Photo Satterfield May-44   5/18/1926 1945
 (Age 18-19)		 Mountain Ash Cemetery, Laporte USS Texas
Place of Death reported as Philippines.
Fought in invasions of Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Le Shima		  
Shelley Keith M 13092419 Army CPL DNB     X Obit Forksville 9/16/1942 Air Corps 10/5/1923 8/3/1944
 (Age 20)		 National Cemetery, Gettysburg Killed in a crash of a B-17G Flying Fortress Bomber on August 3, 1944 at takeoff in Ganders Newfoundland - all 10 members of the plane crew died.
OBIT notes that brother, Lt Wayne Shelley, also died in WWII.  Pacific theater plane crash. 		  
Shelley Richard (Wayne) W 0-250509 USN LT JG           Forksville     10/8/1915 12/6/1944
 (At Sea) (Age 29)		 Manila- Missing in Action or Buried at Sea Killed in an airplane crash while serving in the Pacific theater.  Wayne, Patrol Plane Commander and two others died, while seven were rescued when their plane crashed at sea during a patrol flight (Sullivan Review Dec 11, 1947)  
Shultz Francis L 13091391 Army PVT DNB     X Obit/Photo Laporte 8/3/1942 Field Artillery 5/5/1924 11/8/1944
 (Age 20)		 Mountain Ash Cemetery, Laporte Killed near Vassimont, France, while acting as a guard on a troop or supply chain.   
Sinovich Daniel   13021049 Army S SG DNB   X X   Lopez 10/25/1943 Corps of Eng 12/30/1914 4/15/1944
 (Age 29)		 Saint Vladimirs, Lopez, Sullivan County, PA    
Snyder Grant L 33462103 Army PFC KIA     X     1/30/1943   3/11/1913 5/10/1944
(Age 21)		 Richarts Grove Cemetery, Unityville, Lycoming County, PA 350 Inf 88 Div  
Thomas Malcolm L 33462100 Army PVT DOI     X Obit Estella 1/30/1943 Medical Dept 2/17/1923 12/27/1944
 (Age 21)		 New Friends Cemetery, Shunk, Sullivan County, PA Served in Medical Dept of the US Army, attached to the 9th field Hospital.  Was killed on Dec 27, 1944 when his unit was wiped out in the Battle of the Bulge.   
Urina Steve   33462098 Army SGT KIA   X X   Lopez 1/30/1943   8/2/1922 1/29/1945
(Age 22)		 Manila American Cemetery,
Plot A Row 5 Grave 206,
Manila Philippines		 160th Infantry Reg, 40th Infantry Div, Purple Heart
Yereb Joseph M 33347638 Army PVT KIA   X X     6/30/1942   1918 7/19/1943
 (Age 25-26)		 Manila American Cemetery,
 Plot D Row 3 Grave 236,
Manila Philippines		 169th Infantry Reg, 43rd Infantry Div,  Purple Heart
Sources:
Find A Grave website
Fold 3 Website
Sullivan Review

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