Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania

Grant Riston Fetrow, age 27, from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, York county.

Spouse: Hilda R. Fetrow

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: During the last week of October 1950, Republic of Korea (ROK) Army forces under the control of the U.S. Eighth Army were advancing deep in North Korean territory, approaching the Yalu River on the Chinese-Korean border. Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) struck back in a surprise attack, engaging the ROK 1st and 6th Divisions near Unsan, some sixty miles north of Pyongyang. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, with the 8th Cavalry Regiment in the lead, was rushed forward to reinforce the ROK units in the Unsan area. On November 1, the regiment’s 1st Battalion took up positions north of Unsan, while the 2nd Battalion moved to guard the Nammyon River valley west of town, and the 3rd Battalion was placed in reserve at the valley’s southern end. Master Sergeant Grant R. Fetrow, who joined the U.S. Army from Pennsylvania, was a member of Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 1, 1950, Headquarters Company along with the rest of 2nd Battalion was hit by an enemy attack near Unsan and forced to withdraw. Master Sergeant Fetrow went missing during this action. A battalion operations officer who returned after being released as a prisoner of war reported that he had heard that MSG Fetrow died of wounds he received in the 3rd Battalion defense perimeter. The Master Sergeant was not identified among the remains returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Master Sergeant Fetrow is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Latrobe Bulletin (1954)