Sumpter, Bill Sumpter
Army Corporal

Bill Sumpter Sumpter from Missouri, Clark 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. Sergeant Bill Swanson Sumpter entered the U.S. Army from Missouri and served with Company C, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. On the morning of July 16, while fighting at Hill 200 during the Battle of Kum River, SGT Sumpter was taken captive. SGT Sumpter was forced on the Tiger March to the Apex camps on the southern banks of the Yalu River. SGT Sumpter died at the camp near the village of Hanjang-ni, during November 1950, although the exact details surrounding his death and burial are unknown. Sergeant Sumpter’s remains were not recovered or identified following the conflict. Today, Sergeant Sumpter is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency