Carr, Baldwin Ronald
Army 1st lieutenant

Baldwin Ronald Carr, age 22, from Lansing, Michigan, Ingham county.

Service era: Korea
Schools: Lansing Sexton High (1946), Michigan State University (1950)

Date of death: Saturday, September 1, 1951
Death details: On April 25, 1951, elements of the 24th Infantry Division, including the 21st Infantry Regiment and the 5th Regimental Combat Team, which was attached to the division at the time, were dug into positions north of Seoul, South Korea, where massive Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) had regrouped after their previous attempts to penetrate the valley areas east of Seoul. The CCF launched a renewed offensive against these positions, and despite fierce resistance, could not be stopped. Full enemy divisions were committed in succession, passing around or through their own lines to engage severely outnumbered friendly forces. For several miles, a withdrawal by stages unfolded. Artillery and tanks covered movement after movement, using slight rises in terrain to their full defensive value. The U.S. units suffered heavy casualties and had many men captured during these successive rear guard actions. First Lieutenant Baldwin Ronald Carr entered the U.S. Army from Michigan and was a member of D Company, 6th Medium Tank Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. On April 25, while supporting this withdrawal, the tank he was riding in attempted to break through a roadblock but stalled and had to be abandoned. He was soon captured and held locally before being marched north with other prisoners of war (POW) to holding points. He was eventually held at “Pak?s Palace”, a POW interrogation center in Pyongyang, where he became mortally ill and died in late August of malnutrition. His remains were not recovered. Today, First Lieutenant Carr is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Battle Creek Enquirer (1951), South Bend Tribune (2009)