J-2 Historical Report for CIL I-01 & 02: 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, Democratic People's Republic of Korea

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1 J-2 Historical Report for CIL I-01 & 02: 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, Democratic People's Republic of Korea by Mr. Lyle Otineru Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command 310 Worchester Avenue Hickam AFB, HI April 2006

2 J2 HISTORICAL REPORT for: CIL I-01 (Sgt Floyd W. PRYOR) CIL I-02 (Sgt Harold R. SHREVE) JOINT POW/MIA ACCOUNTING COMMAND 6 April 2006 Individuals Associated 1. Floyd W. PRYOR, U.S. Army Sergeant (Sgt) RA Harold R. SHREVE, U.S. Army Sergeant (Sgt) RA ABSTRACT From 27 November to 1 December 1950 the United States Army s 31st Regimental Combat Team, to which the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment was temporarily assigned, fought elements of the Chinese People s Volunteer Forces in the area of the Changjin Reservoir, North Korea. By the end of the 31st Regiment s fight for survival, several hundred of its soldiers were killed, captured or missing in action. Corporal Floyd W. PRYOR, RA , and Corporal Harold R. SHREVE, RA , of the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment fought in the battle at the Changjin Reservoir and were declared Missing In Action as of 2 December Soon after the war s end both soldiers were posthumously promoted to the rank of Sergeant. On 31 December 1953 both soldiers were declared dead and their families so notified. From 7 through 14 September 2002, during Joint Recovery Operation 28 a joint Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii/ Korean People s Army Recovery Element operating near the Changjin Reservoir battle area excavated a site identified by a citizen of the Democratic People s Republic of Korea as the location where he reburied human remains found earlier that year. As the joint team recovered the reburied remains, a second set of remains were discovered in an adjacent area of the same field and subsequently recovered. Material evidence and remains from this site (identified as site KN-0885) were sent to the Central Identification Laboratory (CIL) in Hawaii and were accessioned on 27 September 2002 as CILHI (later redesignated CIL ) for scientific analysis and possible identification.

3 Approximate area of the Changjin Reservoir Figure 1. Approximate location of Changjin Reservoir, Democratic People s Republic of Korea. Page 2 of 12

4 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND On the morning of 25 June 1950, the North Korean People s Army (NKPA) attacked across the 38th Parallel and pushed disorganized U.S. and Republic of Korea (R.O.K.) forces south in an effort to reunify the entire Korean Peninsula under the communist rule of Kim Ilsung. 1 Acting under United Nations (UN) Security Council resolutions, the United States and 21 other UN members contributed combat and support units for the defense of the R.O.K. 2 As the war progressed from June through November 1950, United Nations Command (UNC) forces in Korea steadily turned the tide of the war against the North Koreans. Just as a UNC victory seemed imminent, approximately 180,000 soldiers of the People s Republic of China s (P.R.C.) Chinese People s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) secretly crossed the Yalu River and were ready for combat operations by the end of October Seeking to avoid the full superiority of American firepower in their first engagement of the war, the CPVF tested R.O.K. and U.S. forces in the Eighth U.S. Army s (Eighth Army) area at the North Korean town of Unsan from 1 to 4 November. 4 This first encounter between the CPVF and Eighth Army was short and violent, but the sudden disappearance of the CPVF by 7 November gave the UNC the impression that it was a limited attack and that the threat had turned back. The CPVF did not turn back. Using the lessons learned at Unsan, the CPVF prepared and launched a second, and much larger, offensive at the end of November in an attempt to destroy the UNC. Unaware of the CPVF s commitment to full involvement in the war, the UNC and its two subordinate ground commands in Korea, the Eighth Army and the U.S. X Corps, prepared to attack and destroy the NKPA while moving north to the Yalu River. The X Corps, located in the eastern portion of North Korea, was separated from the Eighth Army by the Taebeck Mountain Range, an area not suitable for maneuver warfare that was left unoccupied. 5 The X Corps planned its offensive in the east to start on 27 November, three days after the Eighth Army began its offensive in the west. Part of the X Corps plan was to move the U.S. 1st Marine Division (1st Mar Div) north along the west side of the Changjin (Chosin) Reservoir to the town of Yudam-ni (midway up the west side of the reservoir), then west to the town of Mupyong-ni. On the east side of the reservoir was the 31st Regimental 1 Roy E. Appleman, South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu, June-November 1950, United States Army in the Korean War (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1992), James I. Matray, ed., Historical Dictionary of the Korean War (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991), Appleman, South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu, The entry of the P.R.C. into the war prolonged the fighting until July 1953, when an armistice agreement was signed. There continues to be no formal Peace Agreement between the D.P.R.K., the R.O.K., and the UN. 4 Appleman, South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu, and The CPVF inflicted great losses on the U.S. 8th Cavalry Regiment, which was a prelude to the type of CPVF attacks the UNC forces could expect in the near future. 5 Roy E. Appleman, Escaping the Trap: The U.S. Army X Corps in Northeast Korea, 1950 (College Station, TX: Texas A & M University Press, 1990), Page 3 of 12

5 Combat Team (31st RCT) of the 7th Infantry Division (7th ID), commanded by Colonel Allan D. MacLean. Assigned to the 31st RCT was the 3rd Battalion (Bn), 31st Infantry Regiment (3/31 Infantry), the 1st Bn, 32nd Infantry Regiment (1/32 Infantry), the 57th Field Artillery Bn (57th FA) and D Battery, 15th Antiaircraft Artillery (Automatic Weapons) Bn (D/15 AAA). 6 The mission of the 31st RCT was to move north along the east side of the reservoir to the town of Changjin (approximately 30 miles to the north of the reservoir) and then continue north to the Yalu River, thus providing flank security for the 1st Mar Div on the west side of the Changjin Reservoir. 7 Due to extreme weather conditions and the distances involved, the 31st RCT was not in place until the afternoon of 27 November (Figure 2). The RCT was spread out on the east side of the reservoir for approximately 10 miles, with the 1/32 Infantry north of the Pungnyuri Inlet, the 3/31 Infantry, 57th FA and D/15th AAA on the south side of the inlet, and the regimental tank company and other support elements farther south near the town of Hudong-ni. Figure 2. U.S. positions around the Changjin Reservoir, 27 November On the night of November the CPVF attacked the Marines on the west side of the reservoir and the 31st RCT on the reservoir s east side. The attacks were violent and lasted throughout the night. During daylight hours UNC air support kept the CPVF attacks 6 Roy E. Appleman, East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea, 1950 (College Station, TX: Texas A& M University Press, 1987), Commanded by Lt Col Don C. Faith, the 1/32 Infantry was assigned to the 31st RCT because of its close proximity to the Changjin Reservoir just prior to the beginning of the offensive. 7 Appleman, Escaping the Trap, 14 and FalconView Compressed Arc Digitized Raster Graphic (CADRG); Map Sheet NK 52-10, 1:250,000 Scale, Joint Operations Graphic. Map oriented to the north. Page 4 of 12

6 short and sporadic. As darkness fell, the probing attacks gained momentum and lasted until daylight made UNC air support possible again. This pattern continued for the next several days. On the day of 28 November, elements of the 31st RCT, both north and south of the Pungnyuri Inlet, began assessing their losses. North of the Inlet the 1/32 Infantry believed it could hold out and began reinforcing unit positions in anticipation of more attacks that night. South of the inlet the remnants of the battered 3/31 Infantry and 57th FA drew their perimeter in closer and placed the highly effective anti-aircraft weapons of D/15th AAA around the perimeter to increase the defensive firepower of the surrounded units. As night fell on 28 November, the full scope of the CPVF s offensive was realized by the American units around the reservoir. While at the 1/32 Infantry Command Post, Col MacLean and Lt Col Don C. Faith, commander of the 1/32 Infantry, decided that the battalion should move south and consolidate with the rest of the RCT units below the inlet (Figure 3). At this conference it was decided that only the wounded and critical supplies would be moved south by truck. The remains of those soldiers killed in the battalion s perimeter, unnecessary supplies, and equipment were to be left behind. 9 At 0430 hours on the morning of 29 November, the 1/32 Infantry moved to join those 31st RCT units already south of the Pungnyuri Inlet. This move was completed by 1300 hours, but during the move south Col MacLean was lost to enemy fire, and Lt Col Faith assumed command of the 31st RCT. 10 Despite the consolidation of the 31st RCT, constant enemy attacks continued to decimate the RCT and thwarted all rescue attempts of the surrounded unit. On 1 December Lt Col Faith and his staff determined that the 31st RCT could not last another night. Lt Col Faith then ordered the RCT to fight its way south to the town of Hagaru-ri. 11 In preparation for the move the wounded were loaded onto trucks, while the dead and unnecessary equipment were left behind. At 1300 hours the breakout to the south began. By midnight the 31st RCT convoy lay in ruin, destroyed by the CPVF, north of the Marine base at Hagaru-ri (Figure 4) Roy E. Appleman, East of Chosin, No information is available to indicate what the specific instructions were for the 1/32 Infantry dead north of the inlet. It is assumed that 1/32 Infantry left their dead at the forward position aid station/casualty collection point or where they fell just prior to the evacuation. 10 Appleman, East of Chosin, , It was later determined that Col MacClean was captured by the CPVF. The 31st RCT now assumed the informal name Task Force Faith (TF Faith). 11 Appleman, East of Chosin, Appleman, East of Chosin, Page 5 of 12

7 Figure 3. Movement south to consolidate the 1/32 Infantry with the rest of the 31st RCT. Rescue attempts on 29 and 30 November fail. 13 Figure 4. Attempted escape by the 31st RCT, 1 December FalconView CADRG; Series L 754, Map Sheet No IV, 1:50,000 Scale, Topographic Line Map (TLM). Map oriented to the north. 14 FalconView CADRG; Series L 754, Map Sheet No IV, 1:50,000 Scale Topographic Line Map (TLM). Map oriented to the north. Page 6 of 12

8 Most of those able to escape the CPVF made their way across the frozen reservoir to the Marine positions defending Hagaru-ri. As the soldiers related their stories of the column s destruction, the Marines of the 1st Motor Transport Battalion began efforts to find survivors and went as far north as the town of Hudong-ni. At Hudong-ni the remnants of the lead elements of the 31st RCT convoy were found with no one left alive, while stragglers continued to arrive at Hagaru-ri until 5 December. 15 During the 31st RCT s ordeal, most soldier deaths took place in the two primary battle positions around the Pungnyuri Inlet and along the escape route south to Hagaru-ri. The majority of those soldiers taken prisoner were captured during this attempt. Of the approximately 3000 American and South Korean soldiers assigned to the 31st RCT on 27 November, only 385 were considered fit for duty by 2 December, approximately 1500 wounded were air evacuated from Hagaru-ri, and the rest either captured or killed. 16 After the departure of the X Corps from North Korea, it became impossible for the UNC to recover any of the 31st RCT dead from the Changjin Reservoir area. As the 1/32 Infantry later underwent reconstitution, the unit attempted to reconstruct personnel records of survivors and obtain witness statements concerning the dead and missing. Due to the continual combat and withdrawal of the entire X Corps from North Korea, the ability to gather witness accounts of soldier deaths or capture (which would include date, time and location) was difficult as many witnesses became casualties themselves. Such is the case of Corporal (Cpl) Floyd W. PRYOR, A Company, and Cpl Harold R. SHREVE, C Company, 1/32 Infantry, both declared Missing In Action (MIA) at the Changjin Reservoir on 2 December Although it was difficult, military officials continued to seek information about the dead and missing. During two exchanges of prisoners of war, Operation LITTLE SWITCH, 20 April to 3 May 1953, and Operation BIG SWITCH, 5 August to 5 September 1953, repatriated prisoners were debriefed and asked about their knowledge of those unreturned. 18 No one reported seeing either Cpl PRYOR or Cpl SHREVE among the prisoners. Based on this information the U.S. Army declared both men dead as of 31 December 1953 and duly notified their families. 19 Both soldiers were posthumously promoted to the rank of Sergeant (Sgt) effective 1 May Appleman, East of Chosin, Appleman, East of Chosin, Battle Casualty Report, 11 January 1951, Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) for Floyd W. PRYOR, RA and Battle Casualty Report, 6 January 1951, IDPF for Harold R. SHREVE, RA , Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92; Washington National Records Center, Suitland, MD. These records are currently on loan to JPAC for use in the identification of Sgt PRYOR and Sgt SHREVE. Upon completion of these identifications, the original records will be returned and a complete copy retained with the JPAC Central Identification Laboratory s resolved case file. 18 Paul M. Cole, POW/MIA Issues: Volume I, The Korean War (Santa Monica, CA: National Defense Research Institute [RAND], 1994), Finding of Death of Missing Person, 31 December 1953, PRYOR IDPF. Finding of Death of Missing Person, 31 December 1953, SHREVE IDPF. Page 7 of 12

9 Although the Eighth U.S. Army-Korea Graves Registration Service (GRS) planned to recover the remains of American and other UNC soldiers still north of the demilitarized zone (DMZ), problems between the UNC and Democratic People s Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K.) after the armistice made it impossible. Within the Armistice Agreement, Paragraph 13f of Article II dealt specifically with the recovery of human remains. While providing a general outline concerning burials and recoveries, it did not give specific procedures and details and deferred those determinations to the Military Armistice Commission to work out after the Armistice went into effect. 20 On 17 August 1954 an agreement was reached for the recovery and return of each side s dead. This became known as Operation GLORY and lasted from 1 September to 30 October During the Operation GLORY exchange, the CPVF/NKPA returned the remains of 4,219 individuals to the UNC, of which 2,944 were determined to be American. Those remains were sent to the American Graves Registration Service Group s Central Identification Unit (CIU) in Kokura, Japan, for possible identification. By the end of the CIU-Kokura involvement in the identification process, 416 sets of American remains from North Korea were still unidentified. Those 416, along with another 451 sets recovered in South Korea by the GRS, were interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, as Unknowns. Since no remains from the Operation GLORY recovery were associated with Sgt PRYOR or Sgt SHREVE, their remains were declared NONRECOVERABLE on 16 January 1956 and their families notified. 22 INVESTIGATION From 24 August to 24 September 2002 the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii, now the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted Joint Recovery Operation (JRO) 28 with the Korean People s Army (KPA) in the areas of the Changjin Reservoir and Unsan battles. During operations at the Changjin Reservoir a D.P.R.K. citizen provided information to KPA officials of a burial site discovered in May On 6 September 2002 a second D.P.R.K. citizen, the original discoverer of the remains, was interviewed by CILHI and KPA personnel. The witness described his discovery of the remains in a potato field and his subsequent movement of the remains out of the field. The witness then led the CILHI and KPA investigators to the approximate area of the reburied remains in a nearby area (identified as Feature One) and the original location of the remains in the potato field. The entire area was eventually identified as site KN Walter G. Hermes, Truce Tent and Fighting Front, The United States Army in the Korean War (Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1992), Cole, Findings of Nonrecoverability of Remains, 16 January 1956, PRYOR IDPF and Findings of Nonrecoverability of Remains, 16 January 1956, SHREVE IDPF. 23 Gregory L. Fox, Search and Recovery Report 2002/CIL/069, Recovery Scene KN-0885, a Secondary and Primary Burial Recovery Scene in Shin-Hungri Village, Changin Province, South Hamkyong Province, Page 8 of 12

10 On 7 September the joint CILHI/KPA Recovery Element returned to Feature One and excavated the area surrounding it, resulting in the recovery of the remains described by the witness. Additional remains were discovered at a site in the same potato field, west of the location identified by the witness as the original burial location. 24 This area of remains, determined to represent a disturbed primary burial, was designated Feature Two. 25 The Central Identification Laboratory (now JPAC-CIL) received the material evidence and recovered remains from site KN-0885 on 27 September 2002 and accessioned them as CILHI (later re-designated CIL ). Initially, the CILHI Casualty Data Section (now the JPAC J-2 Korea Section) focused its research on the identities of members of the 31st Infantry Regiment s Intelligence & Reconnaissance Platoon (I&R Plt). 26 Subsequent CIL analysis of recovered dental remains for CIL I-01 and I-02 provided tentative associations for two soldiers, Sgt Floyd W. PRYOR, and Sgt Harold R. SHREVE. These two individuals were assigned to A Company and C Company, respectively, of the 1/32 Infantry, and not the 31st Infantry Regiment I&R Plt. Sgt Floyd W. PRYOR s Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) included a letter from a friend who helped to place Sgt PRYOR into a truck of wounded soldiers prior to the 31st RCT s escape attempt. 27 The letter further suggested that Sgt PRYOR suffered from leg wounds but probably no broken bones. There are no known living witnesses to Sgt PRYOR s capture or demise. Sgt Harold R. SHREVE s IDPF contained information from his mother that Sgt SHREVE served as a cook in his unit. Mrs. Shreve noted that his last letter to her was dated 22 November 1950, just prior to his moving north with his unit. She also described some dental work he had done and enclosed a picture of him which showed an irregular gap between two of his maxillary teeth. 28 Among the material evidence recovered from site KN-0885 is a partial prosthesis with the name Shreve on it. 29 As in the case of Sgt PRYOR, there are no known living witnesses to Sgt SHREVE s capture or demise. Democratic People s Republic of Korea, 7 Through 14 September 2002: CIL case file ; Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, 1-3 and Unclassified Message Z Nov 02, Subject: Detailed Report of Excavation of Site KN-0885 Conducted During the 28th Joint Recovery Operation, JPAC Records Room. 24 Unclassified Message Z Nov Ibid. 26 Appleman, East of Chosin, The Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon (I&R Plt) was sent on a reconnaissance mission to the northeast of the Pungnyuri Inlet by Col MacLean on 27 November There is no information concerning the fate of this mission to date. Currently, only the I&R Platoon Leader s name is known. There is no known personnel roster available for the I & R Plt. 27 Letter from Bill to Mrs. Pryor, 16 March 1951, PRYOR IDPF. 28 Letter from Mr. and Mrs. Carol Shreve, 21 March 1955, SHREVE IDPF. 29 Kevin R. Torske, DDS, Forensic Odontology Report: CIL I-02, CIL case file ; Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. Page 9 of 12

11 Archival research and Oral History Program interviews conducted by the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office and the JPAC J-2 Korea Section failed to locate any former POWs captured at the Changjin Reservoir battle with any information concerning Sgt PRYOR or Sgt SHREVE. Several POWs stated that they were temporarily held after their capture by the CPVF in an area to the northeast of the 31st RCT s Pungnyuri Inlet positions (Figure 5). After being held there temporarily, their CPVF captors marched them north to permanent POW camps. It is possible that Sgt PRYOR and Sgt SHREVE were also marched to this temporary holding area, but for unknown reasons did not continue the journey north to a permanent POW camp. Based on this information and the isolated area of the recovery site, it is plausible that Sgt PRYOR and Sgt SHREVE died in the vicinity of site KN-0855 and were subsequently buried without American witnesses. Figure 5. Recovery Site KN-0885 and reported temporary POW holding areas. 30 ANALYTICAL SUMMARY The ordeal of the 31st Regimental Combat Team on the east side of the Changjin Reservoir was typical of the fighting experienced by UNC forces at the onset of full military intervention by the CPVF in the winter of Driven south by the sudden onslaught of a numerically superior Chinese force, it was impossible for the U.S. to begin the direct recovery of its dead from the D.P.R.K. until July 1996, and the Changjin Reservoir area until September During JRO 28 (24 August to 24 September 2002), CILHI personnel were able to recover artifacts and human remains from site KN-0885 and return this material to the CIL for scientific evaluation. POW interviews and historical research shows that site 30 FalconView CADRG; Series L754, Map Sheet No IV, 1:50,000 Scale TLM. Map oriented to the north. Page 10 of 12

12 J-2 Historical Report: CIL & 02 KN-0885 is situated in the vicinity of an area known to have temporarily held captured POWs from the 31st RCT. While there are no known witnesses to the presence of Sgt Floyd W. PRYOR or Sgt Harold R. SHREVE in the vicinity of the recovery area (site KN-0885), their presence in that area, considering the presence of other captured 31 st RCT soldiers, is possible. It is recommended that this report be forwarded to the CIL Scientific Director to support identification efforts for CIL and "CSM, USA (RET) Korea Analyst Page 1 1 of 12

13 BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources: Fox, Gregory L., PhD, Search and Recovery Report 2002/CIL/069, Recovery Scene KN-0885, a Secondary and Primary Burial Recovery Scene in Shin-Hungri Village, Changjin Province, South Hamkyong Province, Democratic People s Republic of Korea, 7 Through 14 September CIL case file ; Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. Pryor, Floyd W., RA , Sgt. Individual Deceased Personnel File. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92. Washington National Records Center, Suitland, MD. Shreve, Harold R., RA , Sgt. Individual Deceased Personnel File. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92. Washington National Records Center, Suitland, MD. Torske, Kevin R., CDR, DC, USN, Forensic Odontology Report: CIL I-02. CIL case file ; Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. Unclassified Message Z Nov 02. Subject: Detailed Report of Excavation of Site KN-0885 Conducted During the 28th Joint Recovery Operation. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. Secondary Sources: Appleman, Roy E. South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu, June-November United States Army in the Korean War. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea, College Station, Texas: Texas A & M University Press, Escaping the Trap: The U.S. Army X Corps in Northeast Korea, College Station, Texas: Texas A & M University Press, Cole, Paul M. POW/MIA ISSUES: Volume I, The Korea War. Santa Monica, CA: National Defense Research Institute [RAND] Corporation, Hermes, Walter G. Truce Tent and Fighting Front. United States Army in the Korean War. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, Matray, James, ed. Historical Dictionary of the Korean War. New York: Greenwood Press, Page 12 of 12