Boettcher, Bruce Duane
Army Private 1st class

Bruce Duane Boettcher from Bethany, West Virginia, Brooke county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: During the last week of October 1950, Republic of Korea (ROK) Army forces under the control of the U.S. Eighth Army were advancing deep in North Korean territory, approaching the Yalu River on the Chinese-Korean border. Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) struck back in a surprise attack, engaging the ROK 1st and 6th Divisions near Unsan, some sixty miles north of Pyongyang. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, with the 8th Cavalry Regiment in the lead, was rushed forward to reinforce the ROK units in the Unsan area. On November 1, the regiment’s 1st Battalion took up positions north of Unsan, while the 2nd Battalion moved to guard the Nammyon River valley west of town, and the 3rd Battalion was placed in reserve at the valley’s southern end. Corporal Bruce D. Boettcher, who joined the U.S. Army from West Virginia, was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, his unit was defending a regimental sector near Unsan, North Korea, when it was attacked by Chinese forces and forced to withdraw. It was during this action that CPL Boettcher was taken as a prisoner of war. After his capture, he died of unknown causes on June 30, 1951, while held at Pyoktong POW Camp 5. Attempts to locate his remains since the close of war have been unsuccessful. Today, Corporal Boettcher is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Hinton Leader (1950)