Kirk, Dwight Allan
Army 1st Lieutenant

Dwight Allan Kirk, age 23, from Illinois, Macon county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Friday, May 29, 1953
Death details:  In late May 1953, Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) launched attacks against the so-called Nevada city outposts: Vegas, Elko and Carson, located slightly forward of the Main Line of Resistance in central Korea. United Nations forces managed to successfully defend the Vegas and Elko outposts, but CCF troops overran Carson. On May 29, the United Nations Command ordered Company B of the U.S. Army’s 14th Infantry Regiment to retake Outpost Carson. Their first attempt almost succeeded in retaking the outpost, but the Chinese troops managed to hang on and Company B’s second and third attempts also failed. Finally, U.N. commanders decided that the outpost was not worth the number of casualties it would take to reclaim it, and Company B was ordered to withdraw back to friendly lines.

First Lieutenant Dwight Allan Kirk, who joined the U.S. Army from Illinois, served with Headquarters, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. During the attempt to retake Outpost Carson on May 28, 1st Lt Kirk was assigned to Company B, and he led all three assaults against the CCF. During the third assault, as he was crossing the battlefield in aid of a wounded soldier, he stepped on a mine and was killed immediately. Due to conditions on the battlefield at the time his body was not recovered. After the ceasefire, the area where he died became part of the Demilitarized Zone, which prevented searches for his remains. Today, First Lieutenant Kirk is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency