Anderson, Norbert Orlando
Army Private 1st class

Norbert Orlando Anderson, age 18, from Milwaukee County Milwaukee, Wisconsin .

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Wednesday, February 14, 1951
Death details: In early February 1951, the United States, Republic of Korea (ROK), and United Nations forces moved out from Wonju, South Korea, and launched a large-scale counteroffensive against invading Chinese Communist Forces (CCF). Company L of the 3rd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, took part in the action, establishing a position on the west side of Wonju and advancing through the hilly terrain amid light resistance from the CCF. However, on February 11, the CCF launched its own major counteroffensive against the advancing U.S. forces. Company L held their ground initially, but soon the CCF’s superior numbers forced the unit to withdraw back through Wonju. Corporal Norbert Orlando Anderson joined the U.S. Army from Wisconsin and was a member of L Company of the 3rd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, and was captured by the CCF during the fighting on February 11. He and other prisoners were marched northward to holding camps near Suan, North Korea, with the corporal’s group arriving at the Suan Bean Camp in late March 1951. Following the end of hostilities, surviving prisoners of war reported that CPL Anderson died in late April or early May 1951, due to complications from kidney problems. His companions buried him at one of the Suan Camps. His remains have not been recovered because the U.S. personnel have not been permitted to conduct searches at the Suan camps. Additionally, he could not be associated with those remains returned to U.S. custody since the ceasefire. Today, Corporal Anderson 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)