Richard Smith Kendrick, age 20, from Clintwood, Virginia, Dickenson county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Thursday, May 7, 1970
Source: National Archives, Saint Cloud Times (1970)
Billy Elwond Counts from Virginia, Dickenson county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, November 30, 1950
Death details: On November 29, 1950, men from Company G of the U.S. 1st Marine Regiment, MP Company and Tank Company, 1st Marine Division, Company B and elements of Company D of the 31st Infantry Regiment, Headquarters Company of the X Corps, and Royal Marines from Number 41 Independent Commando Battalion were sent north from Koto-ri to open the main supply route to Hagaru-ri and resupply and reinforce Allied troops that had been surrounded near the Chosin Reservoir. The group, known as Task Force Drysdale, set out with tanks and other vehicles in the lead and rear, and initially only met light resistance from Chinese Communist Forces (CCF). As attacks increased in ferocity, the group became fragmented as the CCF managed to establish road blocks that further split the task force. Soon, the CCF blew a bridge and halted the convoy altogether. The Royal Marines and most of Company G were north of the bridge at this time and were able to continue to Hagaru-ri. Near the south end of the convoy, a destroyed truck blocked the road. The tanks and troops south of the destroyed truck fought as long as possible before ultimately returning to Koto-ri on November 30. The men between the blown bridge and the destroyed truck, however, were trapped, and subjected to several mortar barrages before CCF moved into hand-to-hand combat range. Fighting raged there until the morning of November 30, when the survivors were forced to surrender. Over 300 troops were wounded, captured, or died during the action. Corporal Billy Elwond Counts entered the U.S. Army from Virginia and served in Headquarters Company, X Corps. He went missing during Task Force Drysdale’s drive from Koto-ri to Hagaru-ri, though specific details regarding his loss are unknown. No one saw him fall, and he was never reported as a prisoner of war. Attempts to locate or recover his remains have been unsuccessful. Today, Corporal Counts is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
James Adron Edwards, age 19, from Dickenson County Virginia.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, November 30, 1950
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. Corporal James Adron Edwards, who joined the U.S. Army from Virginia, served with Battery B, 38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He went missing in action on November 30, 1950, as his unit made a fighting withdrawal from Kunu-ri south to Sunchon. No one saw him fall, and he was not reported to be a prisoner of war. The area where he went missing was never again in Allied hands, and his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the conflict’s ceasefire. Today, Corporal Edwards 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, Dickenson County Herald (1951)