Fox, Eldon Eugene
Army Private 1st Class
Eldon Eugene Fox, age 29, from Illinois, Greene county.
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Thursday, July 26, 1951
Death details: On April 22, 1951, elements of the 24th Infantry Division along with the 5th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) were dug into positions near Seoul, South Korea, where the Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) had regrouped and begun a large-scale effort to penetrate the valley areas east of Seoul. Just prior to the main CCF offensive, the 5th RCT was executing part of a blocking action known as Operation Dauntless, in which its 1st and 2nd Battalions launched an attack against CCF forces in the Chorwon Valley to the north. They pushed the enemy out of the area and set up defensive positions, but the CCF soon regrouped and returned with a massive counterattack. While this assault was repelled, heavy pressure over the next eight days forced the 24th Infantry Division, along with the 5th RCT, to gradually fall back to stronger positions. The U.S. units suffered heavy casualties over the course of the fighting and withdrawal. Corporal Eldon Eugene Fox, who joined the U.S. Army from Illinois, served with C Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on April 23 when his unit was overrun by the enemy near Udam-Jang. He was forced to march north to the Suan Mining Camp, where he died of dysentery on July 26. Although he was buried near the camp, his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Corporal Fox is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency