George Eugene Hartwell, age 38, from Marion County Carlyle, Illinois .
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. Master Sergeant George Eugene Hartwell, who joined the U.S. Army from Illinois, served with B Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on December 1, 1950, as his unit was withdrawing from Kunu-ri to Sunchon, and was marched with a large group of prisoners to Camp 5, Pyoktong, North Korea. He died there of malnutrition and dysentery at an unspecified date several weeks after he arrived. Records indicate that he was buried at Camp 5; however his remains have not been recovered. Master Sergeant Hartwell is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Streator Times Press (1951)
