Jones, Franklin L.
Army Private

Franklin L. Jones from Ohio, Hardin county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Sunday, July 16, 1950
Death details: On the evening of July 15, 1950, the U.S. Army’s 19th Infantry Regiment held defensive positions along the south bank of the Kum River. As dusk approached, North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) tanks appeared on the opposite shore and began firing on the U.S. positions. Although U.S. troops repulsed the attacks that evening, the next morning the NKPA crossed the river and launched a major attack against the 19th Regiment. As the regiment began withdrawing south to Taejon, the North Koreans pushed deep into their defensive lines and set up a roadblock en route to Taejon. When retreating American convoys could not break through the roadblock, soldiers were forced to leave the road and attempt to make their way in small groups across the countryside. Of the 900 soldiers in the 19th Infantry when the Battle of Kum River started, only 434 made it to friendly lines. Private First Class Franklin Leland Jones joined the U.S. Army from Ohio and was a member of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured during the battle of Kum River on July 16, 1950, as his unit made its fighting withdrawal toward Taejon. He was marched north through various holding points before dying of exhaustion and dysentery while en route to Pyongyang, North Korea, in October 1950. His remains have not been recovered, and he remains unaccounted-for following the incident. Today, Private First Class Jones is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency