Garland Deskin Crawford, age 35, from Tarrant County Fort Worth, Texas .
Parents: E. J. Ward and John F. Crawford
Spouse: Married
Children: Sharon, 7, Bill, 5
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Wednesday, February 28, 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. Captain Garland Deskin Crawford, who joined the U.S. Army from Texas, was the commanding officer of D Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on December 1, 1950, as his unit withdrew from Kunu-ri to Sunchon. He was marched with a large group of prisoners to the Pukchin-Tarigol Valley. He died of malnutrition there while under the care of a captured Army doctor, whose notes indicate an approximate death date of February 6, 1951. His remains have not been recovered. Captain Crawford is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Fort Worth Star Telegram 91953)