Brown, Albert Luther
Army Private

Albert Luther Brown, age 22, from Summit County Ohio.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, May 31, 1951
Death details: On February 5, 1951, Allied forces in Korea launched an offensive against North Korean and Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) north of Wonju. Republic of Korea units and the 38th Infantry Regiment and supporting artillery units, including the 15th and 503rd Field Artillery Battalions, and the 82nd Antiaircraft Artillery and Automatic Weapons Battalion, initially met light resistance on their drive to the north. On February 11, the CCF launched an aggressive counteroffensive that caused the Allies to withdraw back southward. However, the CCF had established a series of roadblocks on the road to the south, forcing the Allies to fight their way back to friendly lines. Private First Class Albert Luther Brown entered the U.S. Army from Ohio and was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. On February 13, 1951, he was taken as a prisoner of war (POW) while clearing a roadblock near Saemal, South Korea, during the 38th Infantry Regiment’s fighting withdrawal. After his capture, he was marched with other prisoners to holding camps in North Korea. Repatriated American POWs reported that PFC Brown died of dysentery and malnutrition while marching on May 31, just south of POW Camp 1 at Changsong. U.S. investigators have not been able to access the area to search for his remains, and he has not been associated with any of the remains later returned to U.S. custody. He is still unaccounted-for. Today, Private First Class Brown 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