Wilson, Douglas C.
Army 1st lieutenant

Douglas C. Wilson from Wisconsin, Grant county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Monday, December 18, 1950
Death details: Following American forces’ withdrawal from their positions around the Chosin Reservoir in November 1950, the U.S. Army X Corps concentrated at Hungnam Port on the east coast of North Korea to establish a defensive perimeter and facilitate an evacuation by a U.S. Navy task force. The evacuation began December 10 and continued for several days, with the 3rd and 7th Infantry Divisions establishing the defensive lines to cover the evacuation. Small, localized attacks from Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) were repelled by the American forces daily, but eventually the defensive perimeter shrank as more and more troops were evacuated. CCF launched a large assault on the remaining American positions in the early morning hours of December 18, and heavy fighting followed, resulting in many American casualties. Though eventually the defensive position was restored, the remains of the fallen soldiers could no longer be evacuated, and they were buried in a temporary United Nations (UN) cemetery at Hungnam. Unfortunately, Hungnam eventually fell into enemy hands and remained under hostile control through the end of the war, eventually becoming part of North Korea. After the armistice, the North Korean government returned many of the remains buried at the Hungnam UN Cemeteries to the U.S., but not all the men recorded as buried there were among them. First Lieutenant Douglas Charles Wilson entered the U.S. Army from Wisconsin and served in Company H, 2nd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. He was killed in action on December 18, 1950 during the battle at Hungnam, and buried in Hungnam UN Cemetery #2. Unfortunately, he was not identified among the remains returned to the U.S. following the war. Today, First Lieutenant Wilson is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, grave marker, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency