John Grant Jr. Hope, age 33, from Los Angeles County Glendale, California .
Spouse: Elizabeth J. Hope
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Unknown
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Sergeant John Hope Grant Jr., who joined the U.S. Army from California, served with the Headquarters, Headquarters and Service Company of the 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on November 30, 1950, as his unit withdrew from Kunu-ri to Sunchon. He was marched with a large group of fellow prisoners to Camp 5, Pyoktong, North Korea, where he died on an unspecified date from malnutrition and pneumonia. He was buried at Camp 5, and his remains have not been recovered. Sergeant Grant 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, Los Angeles Times (1954), San Bernardino County Sun (1951)