Dibble, Ronald Warren
Army Sergeant

Ronald Warren Dibble, age 21, from Lewis County Chehalis, Washington .

Spouse: Nandiana Dibble

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 30, 1950
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of 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 extremely heavy casualties in the process. Sergeant First Class Ronald Warren Dibble, who joined the U.S. Army from Washington, served with Battery B, 38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He went missing in action on November 30, 1950, as his unit fought through CCF roadblocks en route to Sunchon. No one saw him fall, and he was not reported as a prisoner of war. The battle area never reverted back to Allied control, precluding searches for his body. After the war, his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody. Sergeant First Class Dibble is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Tri City Herald (1951)