Wakeeney Kansas

Clarence Eugene Wilhelm from Trego County Wakeeney, Kansas .

Parents: Clarence Wilhelm

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Tuesday, July 31, 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. Corporal Clarence Eugene Wilhelm entered the U.S. Army from Kansas and was a member of B Company, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. On February 12, 1951, he was taken as a prisoner of war (POW) near Chanbong-ni, South Korea, during the 38th Infantry Regiment’s fighting withdrawal. After his capture, he was marched with other prisoners to holding camps in North Korea. CPL Wilhelm died on July 31, at the Suan Bean POW Camp, though the exact details surrounding his death and burial are unknown. 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, Corporal Wilhelm 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, Wichita Eagle (1951)