Stallings, Vernon Damon
Army Private

Vernon Damon Stallings from North Carolina, Cleveland county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: On July 11, 1950, the U.S. Army’s 21st Infantry Regiment, which had arrived in Korea six days earlier, was placed in defensive positions near the town of Chochiwon, South Korea. The regiment was not at full strength and lacked artillery and anti-tank weapons. That day, they were attacked by North Korean forces and were forced to withdraw to avoid being surrounded, as well as to buy time until they could be reinforced and resupplied. Private Vernon Damon Stallings, who joined the U.S. Army from North Carolina, served with B Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces north of Chochiwon on July 12 and forced to march to the Apex prison camps in North Korea. He died of exhaustion and malnutrition at a temporary camp near Manpo on November 2, and was buried near the camp. His remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Private Stallings is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency