Redus, Leon C.
Army Corporal

Leon C. Redus, age 30, from White County Arkansas.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Friday, August 11, 1950
Death details: On August 10, 1950, members of the 3rd Battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment combined with Battery C of the 15th Field Artillery Battalion as Task Force Bradley. The task force was directed to defend the city of P’ohang-dong, and Yonil Airfield, South Korea, from an impending attack by North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) forces. Late that day, Task Force Bradley moved along the main road toward P’ohang-dong and Yonil. Much of the task force reached Yonil shortly before midnight; however, during the early hours of August 11, NKPA fighters ambushed one company and four vehicles from Battery C were ambushed by NKPA fighters, preventing the ambushed men from reaching their destination.
Sergeant Leon C. Redus, who joined the U.S. Army from Arizona, was a member of I Company of the 3rd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, and was assigned to Task Force Bradley. The men of I Company were sent back to rescue the ambushed men; however, they also encountered an enemy ambush while on their way to aid their stranded comrades. Sergeant Redus was lost in the ensuing battle, and he was not seen or heard from again. He was never reported to have been taken into enemy custody, and searches of the area were unsuccessful in locating his remains. Today, Sergeant Redus 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, Saint Louis Post Dispatch (1950)