Frederick Stuckey from Pennsylvania, Philadelphia county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Tuesday, December 19, 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. Private Frederick Stuckey, who entered the U.S. Army from Pennsylvania, served in Company I, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. He was killed in action on December 19, 1950, as his company’s position along the defensive perimeter came under heavy mortar fire and was then attacked by CCF infantry. The enemy broke through on the company’s right flank and were only repelled after several hours of intense fighting. Private Stuckey’s body was evacuated from the battlefield, identified at an aid station, and buried at the temporary UN cemetary in Hungnam. His remains have not been associated with any of those since returned from the Hungnam burial sites, and U.S. investigators have not been able to access the area for recovery operations. Today, Private Stuckey is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency