Farrell, William Thomas
Army Private

William Thomas Farrell, age 18, from Cambria County Nicktown, Pennsylvania .

Parents: William T. Farrell

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Friday, August 31, 1951
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. Private First Class William Thomas Farrell, who joined the U.S. Army from Pennsylvania, served with Battery C, 38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on November 30, 1950, as his unit made a fighting withdrawal from Kunu-ri south into Sunchon. He was marched with other prisoners of war to POW Camp 5 at Pyoktong, North Korea, where he died of pellagra on August 31, 1951. His remains have not been identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Private First Class Farrell 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, Pittsburgh Press (1950)