Smith, Donald Lee
Army Private 1st class

Donald Lee Smith, age 21, from Oregon, Hood River 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 Donald Lee Smith, who joined the U.S. Army from Oregon, was a member of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. By midnight on November 1, 1950, the 8th Cavalry Regiment was forced to withdraw from the Unsan area to avoid encirclement by the enemy. The 3rd Battalion, the last to withdraw and surrounded and cut off by the CCF, formed a defensive perimeter. The 3rd Battalion withstood attacks for a few days before survivors either broke out to avoid capture or surrendered. CPL Smith went missing in action during this battle. He was never reported confirmed as a prisoner of war, and he remains unaccounted-for. Today, Corporal Smith is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency