Slagle, Leonard Preston
Army Sergeant

Leonard Preston Slagle, age 18, from Kent County Rock Hall, Maryland .

Parents: Mildred H. Slagle

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, April 26, 1951
Death details: In spring of 1951, the Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) and North Korean forces launched a large-scale offensive with the main objective of capturing Seoul, the capital of South Korea. On April 26, 1951 CCF and North Korean troops attacked elements of the U.S. Army’s 32nd Infantry Regiment attempting to hold a ridge line northwest of the town of Inje, South Korea. Although enemy troops broke through the defensive lines in several small, localized areas, the major thrust of the attack was blunted, denying the enemy control of two main supply lines south to Seoul. Sergeant First Class Leonard Preston Slagle entered the U.S. Army from Maryland and served with C Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. On April 26, 1951, he was hit by enemy small arms fire near Hill 902 during the action near Inje, North Korea. SFC Slagle was last seen rolling over the side of the hill and he could not be recovered before his unit withdrew from the area. When U.S. forces returned to recover their lost and wounded, SFC Slagle could not be found, and he was reported missing in action. Attempts to locate or identify his remains after the war were also unsuccessful and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Sergeant First Class Slagle is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Baltimore Sun (1951)