Dade County Missouri

Elva Lewis Keopke from Missouri, Dade county.

Spouse: Joan Keopke

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 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. Master Sergeant Elva Lewis Keopke joined the U.S. Army from Missouri and was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, Company L was near Unsan with the 3rd Battalion when it was hit by an enemy attack and forced to withdraw. Many soldiers became trapped in the southern part of the regiment’s perimeter and it was during this confusing retreat that MSG Keopke was captured. He was marched to a temporary camp at Sambakkol and arrived around November 25, 1950. He remained there for two months, and was then moved to an internment facility known as Camp 5, near Pyoktong, North Korea, arriving around January 21, 1951. MSG Keopke died of malnutrition sometime in April. Records do not indicate where he was buried. His remains have not been identified among those returned to U.S. custody. Today, Master Sergeant Keopke is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, UP (1954)