Bristol Wisconsin

Bruce Walter Payton from Bristol, Wisconsin, Kenosha county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Friday, December 1, 1950
Death details: On the evening of November 27, 1950, a huge Chinese force launched an attack against the U.S. and United Nations (UN) troops stationed in the Chosin Reservoir area in north-east North Korea. The resulting seventeen-day conflict became known as the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. After a fierce defense, U.S. and UN forces attempted to withdraw south from the Chosin Reservoir to the port of Hungnam. A single seventy-eight-mile roadway connecting the reservoir to Hungnam offered the only retreat route, and the withdrawing men faced significant enemy resistance as they traveled down it, attempting to avoid encirclement. After suffering heavy casualties, the U.S. and UN troops eventually broke through Chinese lines and reached Hungnam. Private First Class Bruce Walter Payton, who joined the U.S. Marine Corps from Wisconsin, served with Battery M, 4th Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. He was killed in action on December 1, 1950, during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, as the 1st Marine Division made a fighting withdrawal from Yudam-ni to Hagaru-ri. PFC Payton fell while fighting to secure Hill 1542, which overlooked the main road out of Yudam-ni. A 19 December letter from the Commanding General of the 1st Marine Division indicates that his body was buried in the temporary cemetery south of Yudam-ni. After the war, his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody. Today, Private First Class Payton is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency