Woodridge in DuPage County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Illinois Remembers POW/MIA
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, June 20, 2025
1. Illinois Remembers POW/MIA Marker
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: War, Vietnam.
Location. 41° 43.947′ N, 88° 2.134′ W. Marker is in Woodridge, Illinois, in DuPage County. It is on Veterans Memorial Tollway (Interstate 355 at milepost 13), 0.6 miles north of Boughton Road, on the right when traveling south. The memorial is next to a small parking lot just south of the building attached to Toll Plaza 89. It can only be accessed while traveling south on the tollway. It can be reached by using the toll plaza on the right (following the signs for Boughton Road) and then, after paying the toll, immediately turning right into the crash investigation parking lot. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Woodridge IL 60517, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Greater Chicago. It is also in the American Midwest and on the Great Lakes. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture and also the Northwest Territory.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker, measured
this page online
More about this marker. There are at least 10 other signs like this around Illinois, each personalized with men from neighboring communities.
Regarding Illinois Remembers POW/MIA. This memorial honors seven men, six from DuPage County and one more from Kane County, who were declared missing in action during the Vietnam War.
According to various online sources, Gregory Anderson attended Wheaton Central High School and was living in Wheaton when he later joined the Air Force. In Vietnam, Staff Sergeant Anderson served as a still photographic specialist for the 7th Division. On January 22, 1970, Anderson was one of six men on the crew of a helicopter that had been sent to rescue two men whose plane had been shot down in North Vietnam and who were believed to have successfully ejected from the plane. While flying over the area of that plane crash, the helicopter was also hit by surface-to-air missiles. The helicopter crash was determined to be unsurvivable, and the six men were presumed dead. Anderson was 22 years old at the time of the crash.
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, June 20, 2025
2. Illinois Remembers POW/MIA Marker
I-355 (the Veterans Memorial Tollway) runs south in this photo.
Patrick Curran, known by family members as Corky, was a bombardier navigator for the Marine Corps. On September 29, 1969, the 26-year-old Curran was one of two men sent on a reconnaissance mission over Laos when the A-6A they were flying went missing. A search the next morning near where the plane was last detected yielded no signs of the missing plane or the two men. Both men were declared missing in action. In 1978, their status was changed to presumed dead. In the years after his disappearance, Curran's parents Ann and Cornelius Curran became nationally active advocates for the families of MIA soldiers; both died before their son's body was identified. In 1996, investigators discovered what they believed to be the crash site; human remains were discovered there a year later. In 2000, those remains were positively identified as belonging to Curran and his crewmate, pilot Albert Lono. Those remains were interred together at Arlington National Cemetery in 2001.
Michael Dunn of Naperville was a member of the U.S. Navy in Attack Squadron 165. On January 26, 1968, Dunn, who was 26 years old at the time, was a weapons officer on an A-6 Intruder aircraft, alongside pilot Norman Eidsmore of Rapid City, South Dakota, engaging in a nighttime attack in North Vietnam. According to a Pentagon report about their disappearance,
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, June 20, 2025
3. I-355 toll plaza
The photo was taken from the spot of the memorial.
Kenneth Keith Knabb of Wheaton was a Navy pilot who commanded a single-seat A-4E Skyhawk for Attack Squadron 106. On October 21, 1968, he launched from the U.S.S. Intrepid for a strike on an enemy in North Vietnam. After successfully hitting his primary target, he conducted armed reconnaissance and received permission to attack a large truck he spotted on the ground. Immediately after he radioed that he was over the target, his plane was hit by enemy gunfire, crashed to the ground and exploded. A partially destroyed parachute was seen at the scene, but search-and-rescue teams could not reach enemy territory. Whether he survived the crash or not was never conclusively determined, and his remains have never been found.
Floyd Warren Olsen was born in Wheaton in 1938 and served in Vietnam as an aircraft commander on a helicopter for the 17th Assault Helicopter Company, 10th Aviation Battalion, 16th Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade. On April 21, 1968, a helicopter carrying the 39-year-old Commander Olsen and five other men went missing during a combat mission over South Vietnam that occurred amid inclement weather. The plane's wreckage was found about five weeks later and determined to have crashed due to anti-aircraft fire. The helicopter's cabin was never found, and it was never confirmed whether any of the men survived the crash and had become prisoners of war. Olsen's remains were never found, but he was declared presumed dead and elevated to lieutenant colonel posthumously.
Dustin Cowles Trowbridge, a native of Wayne in the northwest corner of DuPage County, was a member of the U.S. Navy's Attack Squadron 35, Carrier Air Wing 15. On December 26, 1969, he served as the navigator on a two-man crew for an A-6A plane flying a combat support mission when the plane crashed 110 miles offshore in the South China Sea. He was 25 years old. His remains were never recovered.
Born in North Dakota, Robert "Bobby" Herreid was the son of a World War II gunner who died when Herreid was young. When his mother could not take care of him, he was raised at Mooseheart Child City, an orphanage in the far west suburbs north of Aurora, and graduated from Mooseheart High School. After attending college for a year, he enlisted in the Amry and became a member of the Special Forces. He was 22 years old when he was sent to Vietnam in July 1968. That October, his company of Special Forces was ambushed by enemy troops near the Co To Mountain in South Vietnam. Reports from other soldiers said that Herreid had been shot in the head during the firefight, however, his body could not be recovered as his comrades were forced to retreat. Later attempts to find his body on the battlefield were unsuccessful, and he remains officially missing in action.
Credits. This page was last revised on October 6, 2025. It was originally submitted on June 20, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 136 times since then and 20 times this year. Photos: 1. submitted on June 20, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 2, 3. submitted on June 21, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.
