Blissenbach, Joseph August
Army Sergeant

Joseph August Blissenbach from New York County New York.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Unknown
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Sergeant First Class Joseph August Blissenbach, who joined the U.S. Army from New York, was a member of the Service Battery, 38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by the enemy as his unit was overrun during their withdrawal south to Sunchon. He was marched to a prisoner of war holding camp in the Pukchin-Tarigol Valley, but died in February 1951, either at the holding camp or en route to Camp 5 near the Yalu River, and was buried by his companions. His remains have not been identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Sergeant First Class Blissenbach 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