Waltmer M. Gavin from Salt Lake County Salt Lake City, Utah .
Service era: World War I
Date of death: Unknown
Death details: Died of wounds
Source: Soldiers of the Great War
Gavin, Waltmer M.
Killam, Hugh Cornelius
Army Corporal
Hugh Cornelius Killam, age 23, from Utah County Utah.
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 Hugh Cornelius Killam, who joined the U.S. Army from Utah, was a member of the Headquarters and Headquarters Service Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was taken prisoner of war on November 30, 1950, during his unit’s fighting withdrawal from Kunu-ri to Sanchon, North Korea. After his capture, he was marched to a holding camp in the Pukchin-Tarigol Valley where he died of malnutrition and illness on or before January 31, 1951. His remains were not recovered at the time, and he was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody since the ceasefire. Today, Sergeant Killam is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Asher, Ralph Stephen
Army Private 1st class
Ralph Stephen Asher from Salt Lake County Salt Lake, Utah .
Parents: Leon Asher
Spouse: Roberta Asher
Service era: Korea
Schools: West High
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. Corporal Ralph Stephen Asher, who joined the U.S. Army from Utah, served with D Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was wounded during the withdrawal to Sunchon, and was captured by enemy forces on December 1, 1950. A surviving American prisoner reported after the war that he had seen Corporal Asher in captivity with a throat wound before the group of prisoners he was with was marched to the Pukchin-Tarigol Valley. His remains were not recovered, and he was not identified among the remains returned to the U.S. following the war. Today, Corporal Asher is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Salt Lake Tribune (1954)