Joseph Dometrovich, age 18, from Beaver County Aliquippa, Pennsylvania .
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Tuesday, November 28, 1950
Death details: On November 27, 1950, the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), tasked with replacing the 5th Marine Regiment on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea, arrived at the P’ungnyuri Inlet. That night, Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) launched a massive surprise attack against the soldiers and Marines at the inlet. The 31st RCT managed to repel the numerically superior CCF’s initial attack; however, the enemy continued to attack over the next two nights. On December 1, the 31st RCT began its withdrawal from the P’ungnyuri Inlet to Hagaru-ri. Private First Class Joseph Dometrovich Jr., who joined the U.S. Army from Pennsylvania, served with the Headquarters Battery, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division. He was killed in action on November 28, 1950, during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir as his unit fought the CCF at the Headquarters building and courtyard south of the P’ungnyuri Inlet. The 57th was forced to make a quick fighting withdrawal, and due to the large number of wounded soldiers needing transport, the bodies of the fallen could not be taken with them. After the war, PFC Dometrovich’s remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody. Today, Private First Class Dometrovich 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, Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph (1950)
