Clyde Flowers, age 23, from Florence County Lake City, South Carolina .
Parents: Clyde Flowers
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Tuesday, February 13, 1951
Death details: On February 5, 1951, Allied forces in Korea launched an offensive against North Korean and Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) north of Wonju. Republic of Korea units and the 38th Infantry Regiment and supporting artillery units, including the 15th and 503rd Field Artillery Battalions, and the 82nd Antiaircraft Artillery and Automatic Weapons Battalion, initially met light resistance on their drive to the north. On February 11, the CCF launched an aggressive counteroffensive that caused the Allies to withdraw back southward. However, the CCF had established a series of roadblocks on the road to the south, forcing the Allies to fight their way back to friendly lines. Sergeant Clyde Flowers, who joined the U.S. Army from South Carolina, served with Battery D, 82nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He went missing in action on February 13, 1951, as his unit made a fighting withdrawal down Highway 29 from Hongcheon south to Hoengsong and Wonju. No one saw him fall, and he was not reported as a prisoner of war. Numerous searches failed to locate his remains. Sergeant Flowers 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, Florence Morning News (1954)
