A local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter aims to gather contact information for family members of Wayne County’s 25 Missing in Action military personnel from World War II.
Richmond’s chapter is participating in Indiana DAR’s Enduring Promise Project. A committee is researching each MIA.
The state organization wants to recognize the 1,500 Hoosiers who remain missing and unaccounted from WWII.
DAR members previously installed Bricks of Honor for Indiana’s MIAs from the Korean War (195) and Vietnam War (51). They now plan to do so for WWII’s MIA.
Bricks with the MIA service member’s name, branch, rank and date of loss will be placed in an area surrounding the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in downtown Indianapolis.
A public dedication is planned on Sept. 2, 2026, during the United States’ 250th year.
Richmond chapter members seek help in identifying the men’s living relatives so they can get in touch with them personally. They want to help them become aware of the brick project and invite them to attend the public dedication in Indianapolis.
Contact information can be sent to richmondindar@gmail.com.
Wayne County’s men served in the Army and its Air Forces and the Navy when they disappeared. Their locations spanned the globe, including the Atlantic Ocean, Japan/Okinawa, North Sea, Solomon Islands, China Seas, Central/South Pacific, Mediterranean Sea, Marshall Islands, Philippine Islands, Midway Island, France, Kuril Islands, New Guinea, Admiralty Islands and Marianas Islands.
Indiana DAR officials believe that no other state has a public location with personalized recognition of their state’s MIA service members.
Wayne County’s WWII Missing in Action
The list from The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency includes Earthie P. Anderson, Everette E. Austerman, Robert D. Bass, Karl Kenneth Carrico, Marion Joseph Catt, Alonzo L. Clark, James W. Coe, Ralph I. Cozad, Ralph W. Crawford, Claud E. Duvall, Norman E. Godsey, Floyd A. Griffith, Leslie D.D. Herbert, William L. Hyatt, Vernon C. Hobbs, Vernon D. Hobbs, Harold W. Jordan, Thomas B. Long, Robert H. Miller, William G. Moss, Raymond P. Salzarulo, Albert A. Smith, Howard Alonzo Smith, Gerald E. Walters and Clifford B. Watt.
Relatives of those men are encouraged to send their contact information to richmondindar@gmail.com.
A version of this article appeared in the November 12 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.