Oneonta New York

Adrian Gregory Blanchard, age 25, from Otsego County Oneonta, New York .

Parents: Adrian G. Blanchard

Schools: Hartwick College

Date of death: Thursday, November 30, 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. Sergeant Adrian Gregory Blanchard Jr., who joined the U.S. Army from New York, served with Headquarters Battery, 38th Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He went missing on November 30, 1950, while fighting through a roadblock during his unit’s withdrawal toward Sunchon, North Korea. No one saw him fall, and he was not reported as a prisoner of war. An active enemy presence prevented search efforts at the time, and his remains have not been recovered or identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Sergeant Blanchard is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.

Source: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Press and Sun Bulletin (1954)