Hilgenberg, Earl Edward
Army Sergeant

Earl Edward Hilgenberg, age 23, from Ohio, Lawrence county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: On November 17, 2014, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant First Class Earl Edward Hilgenberg, missing from the Korean War. Sergeant First Class Hilgenberg entered the U.S. Army from Ohio and served with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, members of Company E were occupying a defensive position near Unsan, North Korea, north of a bend in the Kuryong River known as the “Camel’s Head Bend.” That day, elements of the Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) struck the 1st Cavalry Division’s lines, collapsing the perimeter and forcing a withdrawal. During this action, SFC Hilgenberg was taken as a prisoner of war (POW) and was eventually held at POW Camp 5 near Pyokdong, North Korea. He died while still captive from lack of medical care in early 1951, though the exact date of his death is unknown, and his remains were not returned to the U.S. at the time. Between 1991 and 1994, the North Korean government turned over human remains recovered from the POW Camp 5 area, and U.S. analysts eventually identified SFC Hilgenberg from among these remains.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency