Reservoir Gives Up Another
In the frozen North Korean countryside he fell as his 3,000-soldier Regimental Combat Team was cut off and overwhelmed by superior numbers of Communist Chinese soldiers.
U.S. Army Sgt. Harry J. Laurence, of Cleveland, Ohio, has been missing in action since December of 1950, killed in a pivotal battle of the Korean War known as the Frozen Chosin Reservoir. His body is one of 11 recovered and three identified by American and North Korean teams searching for Americans who never came home.
He will be buried April 9 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.
Sgt. Laurence was a member of L Company, 31st Infantry Regiment, then making up the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), 7th Infantry Division. The team was engaged against the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces and forced to retreat to the south due to intense enemy fire. Laurence was among many soldiers reported missing in action.
Known in Korea as Changjin Reservoir, it was a killing ground. RCT 31, was isolated by the two divisions of Chinese soldiers. Outnumbered and worn down, RCT 31 was virtually destroyed. Survivors from this unit reached Marine lines at Hagaru-ri on December 2, 1950 where they joined in the Marines efforts to break out of an encirclement by the Chinese to escape.
Sgt. Laurence’s unit held the Chinese off for four days, giving the Marines time to reinforce their base.
In 2001, joint U.S. and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted two excavations of a mass grave near the Chosin Reservoir. The site correlates closely with defensive positions held by the 31st RCT at the time of the Chinese attacks. The teams recovered remains believed to be those of 11 U.S. servicemen. Analysis of the remains subsequently led to the identifications of three individuals, including Laurence.
Posted by Bryan McKenzie at 01:41 PM. Filed under: Tids and Bits •
