William Francis Jester from Indiana, Marion county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, May 31, 1951
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. First Lieutenant William Francis Jester, who joined the U.S. Army from Indiana, served with Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on July 12 a few miles north of Chochiwon and was forced to march north to the Apex prison camps in North Korea. He died of exhaustion and malnutrition on May 31, 1951, at the prison camp near An-dong, and was buried near the edge of the compound. His remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, First Lieutenant Jester is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency