Izu, Isamu
Army Private 1st class

Isamu Izu from Hawaii.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Sunday, July 8, 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. Corporal Isamu Izu, who joined the U.S. Army from Hawaii, 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 forced to march north to the Apex prison camps in North Korea. He died of exhaustion and pneumonia at the camp near An-dong on July 8, 1951, and was buried in a nearby cemetery. His remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Corporal Izu is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency