A World War II sailor from Farmersville who vanished with his entire crew in the Pacific is now memorialized alongside four other Collin County veterans at the county courthouse, part of a growing exhibit that honors fallen service members from communities across the county, including Murphy, Wylie, and Sachse.
The North Texas Fallen Warrior Project unveiled five new hand-painted portraits during a June ceremony at the Hall of Heroes inside the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, the Wylie News reported. The additions bring the collection to 115 memorials.
The exhibit preserves the stories of more than 400 known fallen service members from Collin County, and more than a dozen additional portraits are awaiting installation. Military families in Murphy, Wylie, and Sachse can visit the exhibit at the courthouse.
A sailor lost at Guadalcanal
Among the five newly honored is Pharmacist Mate 1st Class William "Billy" Bain Honaker, 24, of Farmersville, who served aboard the USS Jarvis (DD-393). On Aug. 8, 1942, the destroyer took a torpedo while protecting Marines landing on Guadalcanal. Seven wounded sailors were transferred to other ships, but the remaining 233 crew members departed without escort for Australia.
The next day, a Japanese aircraft spotted the damaged Jarvis. The ship was struck again, split in half, and sank. No one survived.
Honaker remains missing in action.
The USS Jarvis was one of only two American major surface warships lost in World War II with no survivors.
Five portraits, nearly two centuries of service
The other four honorees span conflicts from the Mexican War to World War II:
- John Meyers McKinney, 65, killed Nov. 26, 1847, while serving with the Texas Rangers during the Mexican War.
- Pfc. James Marlow Morgan, 18, of Anna, killed in action Feb. 1, 1944, with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.
- Sgt. J.L. Montgomery, 21, of Copeville, killed in action Feb. 2, 1945, with the U.S. Army's 740th Tank Battalion.
- 2nd Lt. Lindsey L. Bowen, 22, of McKinney, missing Nov. 15, 1944, during a mission over Yugoslavia with the 15th U.S. Army Air Force. His remains were discovered in 1948 and returned to McKinney.
The artist behind the portraits
Colin E. Kimball, artist and co-founder of the North Texas Fallen Warrior Project, creates each portrait digitally, starting with an original black-and-white photograph and researching uniforms, medals, rank insignia, and unit patches before painting the image in a realistic style. A single portrait can take 12 hours or several months.
One step he always does by hand: the eyes.
"I always hand paint the eyes when I create the portraits, as they are the most important piece," Kimball told the Wylie News. "It gives a sense of the warrior's spirit and soul."
Kimball co-founded the project in 2013 with the late Ronnie "R.D." Foster, a Farmersville native, Vietnam veteran, and U.S. Marine who spent years researching Collin County's fallen. Foster died June 19, 2023, in Anna at age 75. McKinney City Council renamed Veterans Memorial Park in his honor on Oct. 17, 2023. That park's Wall of Honor in Craig Ranch now lists 435 Collin County veterans.
Beyond the courthouse portraits, Kimball has painted more than 200 portraits of posthumous Medal of Honor recipients and serves as chairman of the McKinney Armed Services Memorial Board.
The Hall of Heroes exhibit is open to the public at the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney. No date has been announced for the next portrait installation.
