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Flags Half-Staff Friday Honor Fallen KY Soldiers

Flags Half-Staff Friday Honor Fallen KY Soldiers
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By West Kentucky Star Staff
Jul. 18, 2019 | FRANKFORT
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 18, 2019 | 01:01 PM | FRANKFORT
Gov. Matt Bevin has directed that flags at all state office buildings be lowered to half-staff on Friday, July 19 to honor two Kentucky servicemen who were killed in action during World War II and the Korean War, but whose remains were only recently identified.

Navy Seaman 1st Class Millard Burk Jr., of Pikeville, died at the age of 19 during the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. After multiple torpedo hits, the ship quickly capsized. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Burk. His unidentified remains were interred in the Punchbowl / National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, but advanced scientific and circumstantial analysis by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) recently resulted in his successful identification in 2015. He will now be interred at the Punchbowl / National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific on July 19.

Private First Class James Cletuis Williams of Hopkinsville, was 19 when he was killed in action on July 20, 1950 near Taejon, Republic of Korea. Serving with the Medical Company, 34th Infantry Regiment of the 24th Infantry Division, he died while transporting patients from the Taejon Air Strip. Due to a large-scale enemy attack, the division was ordered to withdraw before Williams could be medically processed and evacuated. His remains were transferred to the Punchbowl / National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and buried as a Korean War Unknown. Through exhaustive investigative efforts, he was successfully identified in 2018. PFC Williams will be buried at the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West  in Hopkinsville on July 19.

All individuals, businesses, organizations, and government agencies are encouraged to join in this tribute of lowering the flag to honor S1C Burk and PFC Williams.

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