Berge, Ralph Owen
Army Private 1st class

Ralph Owen Berge from California.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Tuesday, December 26, 1950
Death details: On July 11, 1950, the U.S. Army’s 21st Infantry Regiment, which had arrived in Korea six days earlier, was placed in defensive positions near the town of Chochiwon, South Korea. The regiment was not at full strength and lacked artillery and anti-tank weapons. That day, they were attacked by North Korean forces and were forced to withdraw to avoid being surrounded, as well as to buy time until they could be reinforced and resupplied. Private First Class Ralph Owen Berge, who joined the U.S. Army from California, served with K Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces near Chochiwon and forced to march to a prison camp near the village of Hanju-ni on the Yalu River. He died there of exhaustion and pneumonia on December 26, 1950, and was buried on a hillside just above the village. His remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Private First Class Berge is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency