Greenbrier County West Virginia

Richard Ray Lipes from West Virginia, Greenbrier 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 Richard Ray Lipes entered the U.S. Army from West Virginia and served with Company A, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured on July 16, 1950, during the delaying actions between Pyongt’aek and Choch’iwon in the Battle of Kum River. After his capture, CPL Lipes was taken to Seoul, then to Pyongyang, and then to Manpo. From Manpo he was marched up the south bank of the Yalu River to the “Apex” prisoner of war camps. By the time he reached Chunggang-jin, the first of three villages among the “Apex” camps, he was mortally ill and died among his companions in December of 1950. His exact burial location is unknown and his remains were never recovered or identified. Today, Corporal Lipes is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency