Greer, Leslie Franklin
Army Private 1st class

Leslie Franklin Greer, age 20, from Scott County Ephesus, Mississippi .

Parents: Mattie Greer. He wrote his last letter to his mom Aug. 12, 1950: “I’m lying out on the ground writing on my pack now so I hope you can read this letter. Sorry I haven’t written sooner, but nine of us got lost from our company and just got back to them this morning about dinner time.”

Service era: Korea
Schools: Ringgold High

Date of death: Friday, September 1, 1950
Death details: In late July of 1950, reinforcements from the U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division arrived in Pusan, South Korea, and within hours of their arrival were already being moved to the front lines along the Pusan Perimeter to help repel the invading North Korean People’s Army (NKPA). Troops were positioned along the eastern bank of the Naktong River, which was shallow enough to be crossed on foot in several places. On August 31, members of the 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, were defending the eastern shore of the Naktong, near the town of Yongsan, when at nightfall the NKPA advanced over the Naktong and began an offensive against American positions along the river. Heavy fighting broke out, and many of the 9th Infantry Regiment’s positions were overrun. Corporal Leslie Franklin Greer, who joined the U.S. Army from Mississippi, was a member of the Headquarters Company of the 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. His unit was stationed along the Naktong on the night of August 31, and he went missing at some point during the NKPA advance. Specific details regarding his loss are unknown. He was never seen in enemy custody as a prisoner of war, and attempts to locate his remains following the end of hostilities were unsuccessful. Today, Corporal Greer is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Winston County Journal