Mattingly, Donald Leo
Army Sergeant

Donald Leo Mattingly, age 24, from Garfield County Shawnee, Oklahoma .

Spouse: Martha
Children: Donald Leo, 2

Service era: Korea
Military history: World War II veteran

Date of death: Saturday, July 29, 1950
Death details: On July 28, 1950, members of the 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, were in defensive positions near Kochang, South Korea, west of the Naktong River. They served as part of a defensive formation soon to be known as the Pusan Perimeter, meant to delay the North Korean People’s Army’s (NKPA) advance through South Korea long enough so that reinforcements could arrive at Pusan Harbor. That night, members of the 34th Infantry reported seeing a procession of enemy tanks and infantry assemble behind a roadblock west of Kochang. The next morning, this NKPA force attacked the 34th Infantry positions from two directions. Continuous enemy fire eventually forced the regiment to withdraw to the east; however, Company I was cut off by the NKPA. A counterattack was successful in rescuing all but one platoon from Company I, though many men were killed or went missing during these actions. Sergeant First Class Donald Leo Mattingly entered the U.S. Army from Oklahoma and was a member of I Company, 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured sometime during the fighting on July 29 and held in Seoul. In late August or early September, he was marched with other prisoners of war (POWs) to Pyongyang; and in mid-October, was moved further north by train. He died during this journey on October 20 or 21, likely near Kujang. His body was never recovered and he remains unaccounted for. Today, Sergeant First Class Mattingly 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, Shawnee News Star (1950)