Nicolas Contreras Garza from Texas, Milam county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Wednesday, December 20, 1950
Death details: On July 5, 1950, Task Force Smith, the first U.S. ground element to engage North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) troops, was defending a position north of Osan, South Korea. The Task Force’s goal was to delay enemy forces by blocking their movement down the road south from Suwon to Taejon, which was a major avenue of advance for the NKPA. That morning, the Task Force was engaged by a column of enemy tanks. The anti-tank weapons that the infantrymen employed were ineffective, and a large number of tanks broke through their position. Task Force Smith was forced to withdraw to the south, suffering heavy casualties in the process. Private First Class Nicolas Contreras Garza, who joined the U.S. Army from Texas, served with C Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. His unit was part of Task Force Smith, and he was captured by enemy forces on July 5 and marched to the Apex prison camps in North Korea. He died of exhaustion and pneumonia at the camp at Hanjang-ni on December 20, and was buried on a hill immediately above the village. His remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire, and he is still unaccounted for. Today, Private First Class Garza is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
