Laurens County South Carolina

James Ellis Jr. Mayfield, age 18, from Laurens County Laurens, South Carolina .

Parents: Emma Harper

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Friday, December 1, 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 Ellis Mayfield Jr., who joined the U.S. Army from South Carolina, served with B Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He went missing in action on December 1, 1950, during his unit’s withdrawal from Kunu-ri to Sunchon. No one saw him fall, his body was not recovered after the battle, and he was not reported to be a prisoner of war. His remains were not among those returned to U.S. custody. Corporal Mayfield is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Columbia Record (1951)