Plotner, Gerald Romain
Army Private

Gerald Romain Plotner from Ohio, Marion county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Unknown
Death details: On July 11, 1950, the U.S. Army’s 21st Infantry Regiment, which had arrived in Korea six days earlier, was placed in defensive positions near the town of Chochiwon, South Korea. The regiment was not at full strength and lacked artillery and anti-tank weapons. That day, they were attacked by North Korean forces and were forced to withdraw to avoid being surrounded, as well as to buy time until they could be reinforced and resupplied. Private First Class Gerald Romain Plotner, who joined the U.S. Army from Ohio, served with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on July 11 as his unit fought a series of delaying actions between Pyongtaek and Chochiwon. He was forced to march north to the Apex prison camps in North Korea. He died of malnutrition, dysentery and exposure at one of the Apex camps on an unspecified date in February 1951. He was buried near the camp where he died; however, his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Private First Class Plotner is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency