McKinney, Texas – The Collin County Fallen Warrior Portrait Project will present the portraits of six young men who died while in the service of our country, Monday, November 6 at 11:00 a.m., at the Collin County Courthouse, 2100 Bloomdale Road, McKinney, Texas. The six portraits will be added to the 48 already on permanent display in the “Hall of Heroes” of the courthouse.
There are 393 names engraved on the “Wall of Honor” at the Collin County Veterans Memorial Park in McKinney, and the goal of the project is to put as many faces as possible with those names. The six heroes to be honored are:
Oscar C. Key, 25, McKinney. 2nd Lt. US Army. Killed in action 26 September 1918, at the Battle of Meuse-Argonne, France, in WWI.
Oscar C. Key
Vernon M. Cain, 26, McKinney, PFC, USMC. Killed in action 4 March 1945, during the invasion of the Philippine Islands.
Clarence Williams, 19, Plano, PFC, USMC. Taken prisoner 7 Oct. 1952, during hand-to-hand combat on an isolated hilltop in North Korea and was never seen or heard from again. Declared dead 16 Jan. 1956.
Joe A. Johnson, 22, Westminster, Specialist Four, US Army. Killed in action 27 November 1968, as he exited a helicopter during an intense battle in South Vietnam.
James Casey Joyce, 24, Plano, Sergeant, US Army. Killed action 3 Oct. 1993, in Mogadishu, Somalia. First Collin County boy to be killed in the Global War on Terror. The story of the mission is told in the book and movie Black Hawk Down.
Christopher Trevor Woodard 30, Plano, Staff/Sergeant, US Army. Served multiple tours around the world, including combat in Afghanistan. Killed 28 March 2012, in an accident near MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.
The “Collin County Fallen Warrior Portrait Project” is privately funded and sponsored by American Legion “Bill Bryan” Post 110, VFW “Lone Star” Post 2150 and Collin County Freedom Fighters.com. The portraits are created by McKinney artist and US Air Force veteran, Colin Kimball, who donates his time and talents to this historic project.
For more information go to www.ccfreedomfighters.com.