Lilly, Ray Kirby
Army Private 1st class

Ray Kirby Lilly from Matoaka, West Virginia, Mercer 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 Ray Kirby Lilly joined the U.S. Army from West Virginia and was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, Company L was near Unsan with the 3rd Battalion when the unit was hit by an enemy attack and forced to withdraw. Many men became trapped in the southern part of the Regiment’s perimeter, and it was during this confusing retreat that CPL Lilly was captured. He was marched to a series of temporary camps until in late January 1951, when he reached a permanent internment facility known as Camp 5, near Pyoktong, North Korea. Corporal Lilly died in February 1951 while at Camp 5 as a result of malnutrition in the company of his comrades. Today, Corporal Lilly 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 Daily News (1950)