Manross, Thomas Maxwell
Army Private 1st class

Thomas Maxwell Manross from Pennsylvania, Crawford 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. Corporal Thomas Maxwell Manross entered the U.S. Army from Pennsylvania and served with Company G, 2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was taken captive by the enemy on July 16, 1950, while attempting to break through an enemy road block south of Taejon during the Battle of Kum River. Following his capture, CPL Manross was marched to various holding camps in North Korea, and eventually arrived at the village of Chunggang-jin on or around November 9. However, by the time he arrived, he suffered from exhaustion, exposure, and illness, and succumbed to his condition on November 14. He was buried by his companions at the edge of the village, but his remains were not recovered or identified following the war, and he is still unaccounted for. Today, Corporal Manross is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency