Mentzos, Paul Gust
Army Sergeant

Paul Gust Mentzos from Saint Louis, Missouri, Saint Louis county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Tuesday, July 3, 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. Sergeant First Class Paul Gust Mentzos, who joined the U.S. Army from Missouri, served with I Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on July 12 north of Chochiwon, and was forced to march to the Apex prison camps in North Korea. He died of malnutrition and pneumonia on July 3, 1951, at the camp near An-dong. He was buried on the side of the road near the camp, but his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Sergeant First Class Mentzos is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency