Somerville Massachusetts

Henry Linwood Ashenfelter, age 22, from Somerville, Massachusetts, Middlesex county.

Parents: Mildred E. (Graves) Ashenfelter

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 30, 1950
Death details: On November 29, 1950, men from Company G of the U.S. 1st Marine Regiment, MP Company and Tank Company, 1st Marine Division, Company B and elements of Company D of the 31st Infantry Regiment, Headquarters Company of the X Corps, and Royal Marines from Number 41 Independent Commando Battalion were sent north from Koto-ri to open the main supply route to Hagaru-ri and resupply and reinforce Allied troops that had been surrounded near the Chosin Reservoir. The group, known as Task Force Drysdale, set out with tanks and other vehicles in the lead and rear, and initially only met light resistance from Chinese Communist Forces (CCF). As attacks increased in ferocity, the group became fragmented as the CCF managed to establish road blocks that further split the task force. Soon, the CCF blew a bridge and halted the convoy altogether. The Royal Marines and most of Company G were north of the bridge at this time and were able to continue to Hagaru-ri. Near the south end of the convoy, a destroyed truck blocked the road. The tanks and troops south of the destroyed truck fought as long as possible before ultimately returning to Koto-ri on November 30. The men between the blown bridge and the destroyed truck, however, were trapped, and subjected to several mortar barrages before CCF moved into hand-to-hand combat range. Fighting raged there until the morning of November 30, when the survivors were forced to surrender. Over 300 troops were wounded, captured, or died during the action. Private First Class Henry Linwood Ashenfelter, who joined the U.S. Army from Massachusetts, served with Headquarters Company, X Corps. He was killed in action on November 30, 1950, near Sinhung-ni on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir. Due to chaotic conditions on the battlefield, his body was not recovered. Within days, U.S. military forces were forced to evacuate the area where he fell, and they never again controlled the area. Private First Class Ashenfelter’s remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Private First Class Ashenfelter is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Cemetery: Saint Polycarps

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Boston Globe (1951)