Pennington County Minnesota

Roy Lloyd Sunsdahl from Minnesota, Pennington county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Sunday, July 16, 1950
Death details: On the evening of July 15, 1950, the U.S. Army’s 19th Infantry Regiment held defensive positions along the south bank of the Kum River. As dusk approached, North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) tanks appeared on the opposite shore and began firing on the U.S. positions. Although U.S. troops repulsed the attacks that evening, the next morning the NKPA crossed the river and launched a major attack against the 19th Regiment. As the regiment began withdrawing south to Taejon, the North Koreans pushed deep into their defensive lines and set up a roadblock en route to Taejon. When retreating American convoys could not break through the roadblock, soldiers were forced to leave the road and attempt to make their way in small groups across the countryside. Of the 900 soldiers in the 19th Infantry when the Battle of Kum River started, only 434 made it to friendly lines. Private First Class Roy Lloyd Sunsdahl entered the U.S. Army from Pennsylvania and served with Company C, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. On the morning of July 16, while fighting at Hill 200 during the Battle of Kum River, PFC Sunsdahl was captured by the enemy. As a prisoner of war (POW), PFC Sunsdahl was marched to various holding camps, and eventually became a part of the “Tiger March” to the “Apex” camps in North Korea. Private First Class Sunsdahl died at the “Apex” village of Hanjang-ni, in early December 1950. He was buried by companions on a hillside just above the village, but his remains have not been recovered following the war. Today, Private First Class Sunsdahl is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency