Ogden Neil Thompson, age 20, from Aurora, Illinois, Kane county.
Parents: Freeda Belle Thompson
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Wednesday, November 1, 1950
Death details: During the last week of October 1950, Republic of Korea (ROK) Army forces under the control of the U.S. Eighth Army were advancing deep in North Korean territory, approaching the Yalu River on the Chinese-Korean border. Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) struck back in a surprise attack, engaging the ROK 1st and 6th Divisions near Unsan, some sixty miles north of Pyongyang. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, with the 8th Cavalry Regiment in the lead, was rushed forward to reinforce the ROK units in the Unsan area. On November 1, the regiment’s 1st Battalion took up positions north of Unsan, while the 2nd Battalion moved to guard the Nammyon River valley west of town, and the 3rd Battalion was placed in reserve at the valley’s southern end. Sergeant First Class Ogden Neil Thompson joined the U.S. Army from Illinois and was a member of Company G of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 1, 1950, Company G was in defensive positions with the 2nd Battalion near Unsan, when it came under intense rocket, mortar, and infantry attacks, forcing it to withdraw. Sergeant First Class Thompson went missing during this action, and in a published veteran’s recollection, he was said to have been killed while evading out of the company area. He was never officially reported as a prisoner of war, and his remains have not been identified among any returned to the U.S. following the war. Today, Sergeant First Class Thompson is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Chicago Tribune (1954)
