Comer Dean Cotney, age 26, from Tallapoosa County Dadeville, Alabama .
Spouse: Wilma Jean Cotney
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Tuesday, February 13, 1951
Death details: On February 5, 1951, Allied forces in Korea launched an offensive against North Korean and Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) north of Wonju. Republic of Korea units and the 38th Infantry Regiment and supporting artillery units, including the 15th and 503rd Field Artillery Battalions, and the 82nd Antiaircraft Artillery and Automatic Weapons Battalion, initially met light resistance on their drive to the north. On February 11, the CCF launched an aggressive counteroffensive that caused the Allies to withdraw back southward. However, the CCF had established a series of roadblocks on the road to the south, forcing the Allies to fight their way back to friendly lines. Private First Class Comer Dean Cotney entered the U.S. Army from Alabama and was a member of L Company, 3rd Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was taken as a prisoner of war (POW) by enemy forces during the Regiment’s fighting withdrawal and transferred north toward the Suan Bean POW camp. However, he died of illness at one of the temporary holding areas on the march route prior to reaching Suan Bean, and he was buried nearby. U.S. investigators have not been able to access the area to search for his burial site and he has not been associated with the remains later returned to U.S. custody. Today, Private First Class Cotney is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Birmingham News (1954)
