Tag: State of North Dakota

Donald Leroy Duff from Sargent County Cogswell, North Dakota .

Parents: Lillian V. Duff

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Unknown
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 Donald Leroy Duff, who joined the U.S. Army from North Dakota, served with C Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured by enemy forces on December 1, 1950, during his unit’s withdrawal to Sunchon, and marched with a large group of prisoners to Camp 5, Pyoktong, North Korea. Surviving prisoners who had been interned with SFC Duff reported that he had died at some point in March 1951 and was buried at Camp 5, though the exact date was not recorded. His remains have not been recovered, and he was not identified among the remains returned to the U.S. following the war. Today, Sergeant First Class Duff is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Associated Press (1954)