23 Greene County Boys Are Reported Missing in Action
Telegrams Are Still Arriving of Losses On Tunisian Front
Believe Most Are German Prisoners of War
The full impact of the war fell upon Greene county this week with the news that many of our boys are “missing in action” on the Tunisian front.
To date The Bee has learned of a total of 23 telegrams received by relatives here, all bearing the information that the soldier named has been missing in action since February 17. That was the date that one battalion of Iowans escaped through German advance lines after being cut off from the main body of Allied troops following the German break-through at strategic Faid Pass.
Actual fate of the men reported missing, of course, cannot be known at this time. However, it is reported that the adjutant general in the War Department at Washington stated that most of the men reported miss in Tunisia have not been killed or wounded but are prisoners of war.
Germany, it is said, has been prompt in informing American forces of the men which it holds as prisoners, so more word may be expected.
Telegrams started to arrive Sunday and continued all day Monday and others were still coming Tuesday, so all of the names may not be included here. The list as compiled to date by this newspaper is as follows:
Scranton. James Sayre, son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Sayre.
Source: Jefferson Bee, March 9, 1943
Personnel of Jefferson Company with Boys Now “Missing in Action”
Here is the national guard company which left Jefferson in March, 1941, taken in the Jefferson armory just a few days before starting its trip to Camp Claiborne, La. The company has been in the thick of the battle in Tunisia and reports of “missing in action” have been received this week by many families.
Source: Jefferson Herald, March 11, 1943 (includes photograph of National Guard group)
12 PRISONERS BACK IN THE U. S.
So far as The Bee had been able to determine by noon today, 12 of the 27 guard company men who had been prisoners of war of the Germans until late in April or early May, have now returned to the States.
The word has come to Jefferson that Cpl. James Sayre of Scranton also has sent a message home that he is in the States.
Source: Jefferson Bee, June 12, 1945
SCRANTON:
Bob McCoy and James Sayre, who were prisoners of war in Germany, arrived home Saturday night.
Source: Jefferson Bee, June 19, 1945
