Muncie Indiana

R. Maurice Metzcar, age 38, from Muncie, Indiana, Delaware county.

Spouse: Helen L. Metzcar

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Wednesday, April 25, 1951
Death details: On April 25, 1951, elements of the 24th Infantry Division, including the 21st Infantry Regiment and the 5th Regimental Combat Team, which was attached to the division at the time, were dug into positions north of Seoul, South Korea, where massive Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) had regrouped after their previous attempts to penetrate the valley areas east of Seoul. The CCF launched a renewed offensive against these positions, and despite fierce resistance, could not be stopped. Full enemy divisions were committed in succession, passing around or through their own lines to engage severely outnumbered friendly forces. For several miles, a withdrawal by stages unfolded. Artillery and tanks covered movement after movement, using slight rises in terrain to their full defensive value. The U.S. units suffered heavy casualties and had many men captured during these successive rear guard actions. Captain R. Maurice Metzcar, who joined the U.S. Army from Indiana, served with Headquarters Battery, 555th Field Artillery Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on April 25, 1951, as his unit attempted to break through an enemy roadblock northeast of Uijongbu, South Korea. He was marched to a prison camp near Sunchon, North Korea, where he died of illness in late September, 1951. Although he was buried by fellow prisoners near the camp, his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Captain Metzcar is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Indianapolis Star (1951)