Clermont County Ohio

Paytes, John Lee
Army Private 1st class

John Lee Paytes from Ohio, Clermont county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Sunday, July 16, 1950
Death details: On the evening of July 15, 1950, the U.S. Army’s 19th Infantry Regiment held defensive positions along the south bank of the Kum River. As dusk approached, North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) tanks appeared on the opposite shore and began firing on the U.S. positions. Although U.S. troops repulsed the attacks that evening, the next morning the NKPA crossed the river and launched a major attack against the 19th Regiment. As the regiment began withdrawing south to Taejon, the North Koreans pushed deep into their defensive lines and set up a roadblock en route to Taejon. When retreating American convoys could not break through the roadblock, soldiers were forced to leave the road and attempt to make their way in small groups across the countryside. Of the 900 soldiers in the 19th Infantry when the Battle of Kum River started, only 434 made it to friendly lines. Corporal John Lee Paytes entered the U.S. Army from Ohio and served with Company A, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured on July 16, during the Battle of Kum River, while his unit was attempting to withdraw through an enemy roadblock outside Taejon. After his capture, CPL Paytes was taken to Seoul, then eventually to Pyongyang, where in October 1950 he was boarded onto a train headed to Sunch’on. However, he never reached Sunch’on, and died on an unknown date while en route on the train. His burial location was not recorded, and his remains were never recovered or identified. Today, Corporal Paytes is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Eads, Avon Edward
Army Corporal

Avon Edward Eads from Clermont County Georgetown, Ohio .

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. Sergeant Avon Edward Eads joined the U.S. Army from Ohio and was a member of Battery A, 38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. On November 30, 1951, he was captured by enemy forces near Kunu-ri, North Korea, as his unit made its fighting withdrawal toward Sunchon. Sergeant Eads was marched to a prison camp in Pyoktong, North Korea, where he died in March 1951. He was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody after the war, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Sergeant Eads 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, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Cincinnati Post (1951)

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