Lea County New Mexico

Defoor, Freddie Carvial
Army Private 1st class

Freddie Carvial Defoor, age 20, from Tatum, New Mexico, Lea county.

Service era: Vietnam
Schools: Tatum High, New Mexico College
Military history: 101st Airborne Division

Date of death: Friday, February 27, 1970
Death details: Killed in action in Vietnam.

Source: National Archives, Associated Press (1970)

Spicer, Orville Kenneth
Army Private 1st class

Orville K. Spicer from New Mexico, Lea county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Saturday, November 25, 1950

Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and allied forces had advanced within sixty miles of the Yalu River, which formed a border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” launched a sudden and fierce counteroffensive after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of those 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 heavy casualty losses in the process.

Corporal Orville Kenneth Spicer entered the U.S. Army from New Mexico and served in Company G of the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. On the night of November 25, during the CCF attack, CPL Spicer and Company G had assaulted a hill but were quickly overrun by enemy troops. The unit was forced to withdraw; however, CPL Spicer stayed behind to provide cover fire for his fellow soldiers and was decorated with the Silver Star Medal for his valorous actions.  This was the last anyone saw of him. There is no evidence suggesting he was taken prisoner, and attempts to locate or identify his remains have been unsuccessful. Today, Corporal Spicer is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Priest, Lowell
Army Private

Lowell Priest from New Mexico, Lea county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Wednesday, October 14, 1942
Death details: Following the Allied surrender on the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, the Japanese began the forcible transfer of American and Filipino prisoners of war to various prison camps in central Luzon, at the northern end of the Philippines. The largest of these camps was the notorious Cabanatuan Prison Camp. At its peak, Cabanatuan held approximately 8,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war that were captured during and after the Fall of Bataan. Camp overcrowding worsened with the arrival of Allied prisoners who had surrendered from Corregidor on May 6, 1942. Conditions at the camp were poor, with food and water extremely limited, leading to widespread malnutrition and outbreaks of malaria and dysentery. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, approximately 2,800 Americans had died at Cabanatuan. Prisoners were forced to bury the dead in makeshift communal graves, often completed without records or markers. As a result, identifying and recovering remains interred at Cabanatuan was difficult in the years after the war. Private Lowell Priest entered the U.S. Army from New Mexico and served with Battery H of the 200th Coastal Artillery Regiment in the Philippines during World War II. The 200th Coast Artillery Regiment arrived in the Philippines in September 1941, and was stationed at Fort Stotsenburg on Clark Air Base. After Japanese forces invaded the Philippines in December, the 200th was ordered to the Bataan Peninsula where they participated in the defense of Bataan. Private Priest was with his unit when Allied troops in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese on April 9, 1942. He and the other surviving members of his unit were forced on the Bataan Death March and ultimately interned at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp, where he died of dysentery on October 14, 1942. He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs; however, his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan after the war. Today, Private Priest is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Huchton, Robert D.
Army Private

Robert D. Huchton from New Mexico, Lea county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Friday, July 24, 1942
Death details: Following the Allied surrender on the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, the Japanese began the forcible transfer of American and Filipino prisoners of war to various prison camps in central Luzon, at the northern end of the Philippines. The largest of these camps was the notorious Cabanatuan Prison Camp. At its peak, Cabanatuan held approximately 8,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war that were captured during and after the Fall of Bataan. Camp overcrowding worsened with the arrival of Allied prisoners who had surrendered from Corregidor on May 6, 1942. Conditions at the camp were poor, with food and water extremely limited, leading to widespread malnutrition and outbreaks of malaria and dysentery. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, approximately 2,800 Americans had died at Cabanatuan. Prisoners were forced to bury the dead in makeshift communal graves, often completed without records or markers. As a result, identifying and recovering remains interred at Cabanatuan was difficult in the years after the war. Private Robert D. Huchton joined the U.S. Army from New Mexico and served with Battery E of the 200th Coast Artillery Regiment in the Philippines during World War II. The 200th Coast Artillery Regiment arrived in the Philippines in September 1941 and was stationed at Fort Stotsenburg on Clark Air Base. After Japanese forces invaded the Philippines in December, the 200th was ordered to the Bataan Peninsula where they participated in the defense of Bataan. Private Huchton was with his unit when Allied troops in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese on April 9, 1942. He and the other surviving members of his unit were forced on the Bataan Death March and ultimately interned at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp, where PVT Huchton died of malaria on July 24, 1942. He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs; however, his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan after the war. Today, Private Huchton is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

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