Peter Columbus Bell, age 33, from Smith County Tyler, Texas .
Parents: Mrs. Dovie Wright
Service era: Korea
Schools: Tyler High graduate
Military history: World War II veteran
Date of death: Friday, December 1, 1950
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 Peter Columbus Bell, who joined the U.S. Army from Texas, served with the Headquarters Battery, 82nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He went missing in action on December 1, 1950, as his unit provided direct fire support to the 2nd Infantry Division’s withdraw, though specific details regarding his loss are unknown. No one saw him fall, and he was not reported to be a prisoner of war. The area where he went missing did not return to Allied control, so no searches could be conducted for him, and his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the war. Today, Sergeant First Class Bell 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, Tyler Courier Times (1950)
