Clifford, Clyde Raymond
Army Private 1st class

Clyde Raymond Clifford, age 20, from Elkhart County Elkhart, Indiana .

Parents: Clifford

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Wednesday, July 26, 1950
Death details: In late July 1950, elements of the 27th Infantry Regiment, 8th Cavalry Regiment, and other units in the 25th Infantry and 1st Cavalry Divisions were tasked with blocking a North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) advance down the Poun-Hwanggan Highway, toward Kumch’on, roughly thirty-five miles west of Taegu. On July 23 and 24, U.S. units fought a series of engagements against the advancing NKPA forces. Heavy enemy artillery fire barrages forced the U.S. units back slowly until they began to withdraw to new positions on July 26. Over the next three days, the units withdrew and consolidated in Kumch’on, though many American soldiers died, were captured, or went missing during this action.
Corporal Clyde Raymond Clifford, who entered the U.S. Army from Indiana, served with D Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. On July 23, 1950, his unit moved to secure the village of Sangyangni as part of the blocking action against the NKPA advance. Early in the morning of July 24, NKPA forces attacked CPL Clifford’s unit’s position under cover of darkness and heavy fog. Though the enemy suffered heavy casualties, the U.S. troops were eventually forced to pull back. CPL Clifford was reported missing in action during this withdrawal. His name later appeared on blackboards in a Seoul schoolhouse where prisoners of war were temporarily held, suggesting that he was captured by the enemy, but further evidence of his fate is not available. He remains unaccounted for. Today, Corporal Clifford is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Anderson Herald (1950)