Bensinger, Norman Elmer
Army Private 1st class

Norman Elmer Bensinger, age 20, from Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore county.

Parents: Mary K. Bensinger

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: During the last week of October 1950, Republic of Korea (ROK) Army forces under the control of the U.S. Eighth Army were advancing deep in North Korean territory, approaching the Yalu River on the Chinese-Korean border. Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) struck back in a surprise attack, engaging the ROK 1st and 6th Divisions near Unsan, some sixty miles north of Pyongyang. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, with the 8th Cavalry Regiment in the lead, was rushed forward to reinforce the ROK units in the Unsan area. On November 1, the regiment’s 1st Battalion took up positions north of Unsan, while the 2nd Battalion moved to guard the Nammyon River valley west of town, and the 3rd Battalion was placed in reserve at the valley’s southern end. Corporal Norman E. Bensinger, who joined the U.S. Army from Maryland, was a member of Company A of the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 1, 1950, Company A was among 1st Cavalry Division units tasked with supporting offensive positions against encroaching Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) in the Unsan area. After intense barrages of enemy rocket fire and infantry assaults, Corporal Bensinger and the rest of Company A were ordered to withdraw along with the rest of the 8th Cavalry Regiment. Company A was forced to fight its way through Unsan, which was by then infiltrated with CCF firing on the American troops from rooftops and behind roadblocks. Corporal Bensinger went missing on November 2 during the course of this fighting, though the exact circumstances surrounding his loss unknown. His remains have not been recovered, and he could not be associated with any of the remains that North Korean officials returned to U.S. custody after the armistice. Today, Corporal Bensinger is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Baltimore Sun (1950)