Barton County Missouri

Charles Edwin Waits, age 23, from Missouri, Barton county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Friday, June 13, 1952
Death details: On June 13, 1952, a platoon of twenty-two tanks from the 140th Tank Battalion, 40th Infantry Division, engaged the enemy near Kumsong, North Korea. Enemy fire destroyed several of the tanks. Some soldiers were killed inside the burning tanks, while others managed to escape. Many of those who were able to get out of their vehicles were picked up by withdrawing tanks, but others were killed by enemy fire before they could be rescued. Sergeant Charles Edwin Waits, who joined the U.S. Army from Missouri, served with Company C, 140th Medium Tank Battalion, 40th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on June 13, 1952, as his unit fought Chinese troop near Kumsong, North Korea. Sergeant Waits was last seen firing at enemy forces from his disabled tank. He was not seen to fall in battle, and he was never reported to be a prisoner of war. His remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Sergeant Waits is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency