Reginald Ernest Frazier from New Hampshire, Cheshire county.
Parents: W.H. Frazier
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. Private First Class Reginald E. Frazier joined the U.S. Army from New Hampshire and was a member of Company M, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, Company M was providing security for the 3rd Battalion Command Post near Unsan when it was engaged by the enemy and forced to withdraw. 3rd Battalion units became surrounded during the withdrawal, and it was during this action that PFC Frazier was taken as a prison or war (POW), though specific details regarding his capture are unknown. He was held at Camp 5 at Pyoktong. Prisoners who survived the war and were returned after being released reported that PFC Frazier died of pneumonia on or around March 31, 1951. Companions buried him near the edge of Camp 5 on a rising hill slope. He has not been identified among any remains returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Private First Class Frazier is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Orlando Evening Star (1951)