Fresen, Richard D.
Army Master Sergeant

Richard D. Fresen from Illinois, Monroe county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Friday, December 1, 1950
Death details: On the evening of November 27, 1950, Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) launched a massive attack against the U.S. and United Nations troops stationed in the Chosin Reservoir area in northeast North Korea, resulting in a seventeen-day conflict that became known as the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. At the time of the initial CCF attack, members the U.S. Army’s 31st and 32nd Infantry Regiments were defending the area north of Sinhung-ni, on the east side of the reservoir. The defenders were overwhelmed by the numerically superior CCF, and on December 1, were forced to withdraw to friendly lines at Hagaru-ri. Chinese roadblocks from Sinhung-ni to Hagaru-ri along with the constant enemy fire from the surrounding high ground, made the withdrawal route extremely dangerous. Eventually, the column was broken into separate segments, which the CCF attacked individually. Many men were lost or captured during the moving battle, with survivors reaching friendly lines in Hagaru-ri on December 2 and 3. Master Sergeant Richard Daniel Fresen, who joined the U.S. Army from Illinois, served with the Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was wounded in the leg near the Chosin Reservoir shoreline on December 1, 1950, and was captured by enemy troops before he could be recovered by U.S. forces. He reportedly died of malnutrition and complications from his wound in mid-January 1951 at a temporary prison camp near the reservoir. Although he was buried nearby, his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Master Sergeant Fresen is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency