McKinney, Texas (November 2, 2022) -- The North Texas Fallen Warrior Portrait Project will present six portraits of Collin County young men who died while in the service of our country, in a ceremony, Monday, November 7, at 11:00 am., at the Russell A. Steindam Courts Building, 2100 Bloomdale Road, McKinney. The portraits will be added to the 88 already on display in the “Hall of Heroes” in the courthouse. There are 431 names engraved on the “Wall of Honor” at the Veterans Memorial Park in McKinney, and the goal of the project is to put as many faces as possible with those names. Digital artist and US Air Force veteran Colin Kimball donates his time and talents to this historic project which began in 2013.
The six WWI and WWII heroes to be honored, who represent the Army, Navy, Army Air Corps and Marine Corps, are:
JEFF MORGAN TUCKER, 23, McKinney. Died of unknown causes and buried in France, 1918. Body returned home in July 1921 to be buried at Ross Cemetery in McKinney. WWI.
R. MAYS POWELL, 39, Anna. US Navy, Pharmacist 2nd Class. Corpsman (medic). KIA 12 Jan. 1945 on Luzon Island in the Philippines during a beach landing with US Army Infantry. The boat was attacked by Japanese machine guns and mortars; died while trying to save a wounded soldier. Listed as “Missing in Action” until his body was found after the war. Buried at Highland Cemetery, Melissa, Texas. WWII.
STANLEY MARKS DUVALL, 23, Celina High School, outstanding athlete at SMU. USMC, Lt. Pilot of B-25 Mitchell Bomber; member of the Marine Corps’ only squadron of large bombers, where Marine pilots developed the tactic of low-level bombing and machine-gun strafing in jungle conditions. KIA 23 January 1943 in the South Pacific, went missing on a flight from Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands to Tutila Island, American Samoa. Listed on the “Tablets of the Missing” at Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii. WWII.
AUGUSTUS F. REESE, 26, Josephine, Nevada, Texas Tech graduate. US Army Air Corps, 1st Lt. Pilot of a P-38 Lightning, 94th Fighter Squadron. KIA near Cagliari, Sardinia, in the Mediterranean Sea 14 May 1943, when his plane struck the ground after strafing a train. Buried at Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, Texas. Reese Air Force Base near Lubbock is named in his honor. World War II.
JAMES H. ELLIOTT, 22, McKinney. US Army, Staff/Sgt. 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. Landed at Normandy on D-Day. KIA 28 July 1944 at the battle for San Lo, France. Buried at Van Alstyne, Cemetery. WWII.
CECIL CLEVELAND WALDRUM, 27, Collin County. US Army, Cpl. Paratrooper.
4th Company, 3rd Regiment First Special Service Force. Handpicked unit of American and Canadian volunteers that would set the standard for all special ops units to come. Their story is somewhat told in the movie “The Devil’s Brigade”. Made amphibious assaults on Kiska Alaska, Sicily and Anzio, Italy. Saw some of the heaviest action in Europe. KIA 16 Feb. 1944 near Lazio, Italy. Reburied at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, Texas, 9 Mar. 1948. WWII.
The “Collin County Fallen Warrior Portrait Project” is privately funded and sponsored by Collin County Freedom Fighters.com.
For more information contact Colin Kimball at colinkimbll@live.com.