Flynn, Norman Edgar
Army Private 1st class

Norman Edgar Flynn, age 18, from Sevier County Sevierville, Tennessee .

Parents: Marshall E. Flynn

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Tuesday, November 28, 1950
Death details: On November 27, 1950, the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), tasked with replacing the 5th Marine Regiment on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea, arrived at the P’ungnyuri Inlet. That night, Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) launched a massive surprise attack against the soldiers and Marines at the inlet. The 31st RCT managed to repel the numerically superior CCF’s initial attack; however, the enemy continued to attack over the next two nights. On December 1, the 31st RCT began its withdrawal from the P’ungnyuri Inlet to Hagaru-ri. Private First Class Norman Edgar Flynn, who joined the U.S. Army from Tennessee, served with L Company, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was killed in action on November 28, 1950, during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir when his unit, part of the 31st RCT, fought the CCF at the P’ungnyuri Inlet. When the 31st RCT made its fighting withdrawal to Hagaru-ri, they carried so many wounded soldiers with them that they were forced to leave the bodies of the fallen behind. PFC Flynn’s remains were not recovered at the time and have not been identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Private First Class Flynn is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.

Source: National Archives, Knoxville News Sentinel (1951)