Blanchfield, Robert Wayne
Army Private 1st class

Robert Wayne Blanchfield, age 23, from Pierce County Tacoma, Washington .

Parents: Amy Louise Blanchfield (1899-1996)

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Wednesday, January 31, 1951
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Corporal Robert Wayne Blanchfield, who joined the U.S. Army from Washington, served in the Headquarters, Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was taken prisoner of war on November 30, 1950, during his unit’s withdrawal to Sunchon, North Korea. After his capture, he was marched to a holding camp in the Pukchin-Tarigol Valley where he died from malnutrition on or before January 31, 1951. His remains have not been recovered or identified since the ceasefire. Today, Corporal Blanchfield is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, News Tribune (1996)