Paschbeck, Rudolph W. Jr.
Army Private 1st class

Rudolph W. Jr. Paschbeck, age 19, from Spokane County Washington.

Parents: Rudolph W. Paschbeck

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, August 31, 1950
Death details: The 23rd Infantry Regiment landed at Pusan, South Korea, on August 5, 1950, and within one hour its 1st Battalion was dispatched to the front lines to reinforce the American and Republic of Korea (ROK) elements defending Pusan Harbor. The 1st Battalion established positions on high ground above the Naktong River, which was so shallow at the time that weary American survivors from earlier engagements began fording the river and walking behind American lines. Soon, however, the North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) began assembling ground forces near the river in order to ford it themselves and launch an offensive that would push American forces back to the sea. At dusk on August 31, the NKPA began this offensive along a fifteen-mile front, with the 1st Battalion taking the brunt of the NKPA’s efforts. By the early morning of September 1, Companies A, B, and C of the 1st Battalion were completely overrun, with many men from each of the units killed in action or taken prisoner amid the heavy fighting. Corporal Rudolph William Paschbeck joined the U.S. Army from Washington and was a member of B Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He went missing in action during the NKPA offensive on August 31, 1950. He was never reported to be a prisoner of war, and he remains unaccounted-for following the incident. Today, Corporal Paschbeck 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, San Bernardino County Sun (1950)