Mercer, William N.
Army Sergeant

William N. Mercer, age 24, from Massachusetts, Suffolk county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Friday, June 13, 1952
Death details: On June 13, 1952, a platoon of twenty-two tanks from the 140th Tank Battalion, 40th Infantry Division, engaged the enemy near Kumsong, North Korea. Enemy fire destroyed several of the tanks. Some soldiers were killed inside the burning tanks, while others managed to escape. Many of those who were able to get out of their vehicles were picked up by withdrawing tanks, but others were killed by enemy fire before they could be rescued. Sergeant First Class William Nathan Mercer, who joined the U.S. Army from Massachusetts, served with Company C, 140th Medium Tank Battalion, 40th Infantry Division. He was a tank driver during the June 13, 1952 engagement near Kumsong, and he was killed in action when his tank was set on fire. He was seen laying on the ground next to his tank, but due to the chaos on the battlefield his body was not immediately recovered, and his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Sergeant First Class Mercer is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency