Owens, Lawrence Junior
Army Private 1st class

Lawrence Junior Owens, age 25, from Rockingham County Spray, North Carolina .

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, July 27, 1950
Death details: In late July of 1950, members of the 3rd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, served as part of U.S. forces defending Korea from the advancing North Korean People’s Army (NKPA). On July 24, they were attached to the 19th Infantry Regiment, which was positioned at the southern portion of the American defensive line. On July 25, they received a warning to secure the Hadong Pass in South Korea before the NKPA arrived there. Upon the Americans’ arrival on July 27, they were ambushed by a large enemy force. Despite mounting a fierce resistance, the 19th Infantry Regiment and attached units were unable to stop the NKPA from capturing the pass. The 3rd Battalion suffered significant casualties as a result of the battle. Corporal Lawrence Junior Owens, who joined the U.S. Army from North Carolina, was a member of I Company, 3rd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He took part in the fighting at Hadong Pass, and went missing in action at some point during the battle. U.S. forces retook the Hadong area in late September; however, none of the remains recovered there could be associated with CPL Owens. He was never reported as a prisoner of war, and he is still unaccounted for. Today, Corporal Owens 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, Associated Press (1954)