Logan County Colorado

Manuello, William Gene
Marines Private 1st class

William Gene Manuello, age 22, from Colorado, Logan county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, March 26, 1953
Death details: In late March 1953, elements of the 1st Marine Division manned a string of outposts along a 33-mile section of the main line of resistance on the Korean Peninsula, near the present-day Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The 1st Marine Division’s 5th Marine Regiment was responsible for three of these outposts, named Carson, Reno, and Vegas, or collectively “the Nevada Cities Complex.” On March 26, Chinese Communist Forces attacked all three outposts. Although Carson managed to stave off the assault, Reno and Vegas, which were more lightly manned, eventually succumbed to the enemy. Over 1,000 Marines were killed, wounded, or went missing during the attack on the Nevada Cities Complex. Private First Class William Gene Manuello entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Colorado and served with C Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. He was reported missing in action on March 26, 1953, during the attack on Outpost Reno. No one saw PFC Manuello fall, and he was never reported as a prisoner of war. He was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire, and is still unaccounted-for. Today, Private First Class Manuello is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Wirtz, Harold Dean
Army Private

Harold Dean Wirtz, age 19, from Sterling, Colorado, Logan county.

Service era: Korea
Military history: 35th Infantry Regiment

Date of death: Monday, October 30, 1950
Death details:  On July 22, 1950, the 2nd Battalion of the U.S. Army’s 35th Infantry Regiment was holding defensive positions along the south bank of the rain-swollen Yong stream, south of Mun’gyong, South Korea. The battalion’s Company F was sent across the stream to reinforce a Republic of Korea (ROK) battalion on the north bank, but the ROK-U.S. position was immediately attacked by North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) forces, separating them from the rest of the 2nd Battalion and flanking Company F on both sides. Company F fell back to the stream’s edge under enemy fire, but the current was too powerful for them to cross and the enemy had seized the nearby bridge. U.S. combat engineers on the south bank attempted to launch rafts for the stranded men but were also pinned down by the NKPA until additional American tanks and infantry arrived to give them covering fire. This enabled the engineers to deploy their rafts and evacuate the men of Company F from the north bank. However, several soldiers were lost to enemy fire or while attempting to cross the swollen stream before the rafts could be launched.

Private Harold Dean Wirtz, who entered the U.S. Army from Colorado, served with F Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was taken as a prisoner of war (POW) while attempting to cross the Yong stream on July 22, 1950. A repatriated U.S. POW later reported that a prison guard killed Private Wirtz on October 30, 1950, and buried him nearby. His remains were not identified among those returned to the U.S. following the war, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Private Wirtz is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, 35th Infantry Regiment Association, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Back To Top