Sandusky County Ohio

Karl James Streeter, age 20, from Sandusky County Ohio.

Spouse: Rose Mary (Ross)
Children: Daughter, 4

Service era: Korea
Schools: Clyde High

Date of death: Wednesday, March 14, 1951
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 First Class Karl James Streeter, who entered the U.S. Army from Ohio, was a member of D Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on December 1, 1950, during this withdrawal, and was eventually moved to the Camp 5 prison facility in Pyok-tong, North Korea. He died there on or before March 14, 1951, was buried in the vicinity of the camp. However, his remains were not identified among those that have been returned to U.S. custody since the ceasefire, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Sergeant First Class Streeter is memorialized in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Fremont News Messenger (1954)