Richard Caballero Encinas, age 22, from Cochise County Arizona.
Parents: Nellie R. Cabellero
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, February 15, 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. Sergeant Richard Caballero Encinas, who joined the U.S. Army from Arizona, served with A Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on an unknown date during the 2nd Engineer’s withdrawal to Sunchon. Surviving prisoners who were interned with him reported SGT Encinas died of dysentery and malnutrition at Camp 5, Pyoktong, North Korea, on February 15, 1951. His remains have not been recovered, and he was not identified among the remains returned to the U.S. following the war. Today, Sergeant Encinas is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, The Californian (1954)