Viars, James Earnest
Army Private 1st class

James Earnest Viars from Virginia, Wythe county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Monday, November 27, 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. Corporal James Earnest Viars, who joined the U.S. Army from Virginia, served with I Company, 3rd 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 pneumonia on November 27 at the camp at Hanjang-ni, and was buried near the camp. His remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire, and he is still unaccounted for. Today, Corporal Viars is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency