Spicer, Orville Kenneth
Army Private 1st class

Orville K. Spicer from New Mexico, Lea county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Saturday, November 25, 1950

Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and allied forces had advanced within sixty miles of the Yalu River, which formed a border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” launched a sudden and fierce counteroffensive after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of those units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan Province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered heavy casualty losses in the process.

Corporal Orville Kenneth Spicer entered the U.S. Army from New Mexico and served in Company G of the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. On the night of November 25, during the CCF attack, CPL Spicer and Company G had assaulted a hill but were quickly overrun by enemy troops. The unit was forced to withdraw; however, CPL Spicer stayed behind to provide cover fire for his fellow soldiers and was decorated with the Silver Star Medal for his valorous actions.  This was the last anyone saw of him. There is no evidence suggesting he was taken prisoner, and attempts to locate or identify his remains have been unsuccessful. Today, Corporal Spicer is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency