Hamrick, Flavy Carl
Army Corporal

Flavy Carl Hamrick, age 21, from Harrison, West Virginia, Clay county.

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 Flavy Carl Hamrick joined the U.S. Army from West Virginia and was a member of Company I of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, members of Company I were in defensive positions near Unsan when they received orders to withdraw. The unit faced enemy fire as they withdrew, and Corporal Hamrick was wounded. He was captured during the action and died within ten days while en route to Prison Camp 5 near Pyoktong. Other returnees reported that they saw Corporal Hamrick shortly after his capture and that he did not survive the march. His burial location is unknown and his remains were not recovered. He was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Corporal Hamrick is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Charleston Daily Mail (1951)