The remains of Army Sgt. Maximiano T. Lacsamana
were identified earlier this month by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
Sgt. Lacsamana was reported missing in action on December 3, 1950, in fighting
against the Chinese army near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. Sgt. Lacsamana
was with Company I, 3rd Battalion, 31st Regimental Combat Team, 7th Infantry
Division when several hundred thousand Chinese soldiers crossed the Yalu River
and attacked United Nations forces in North Korea. The 7th ID and the 1st
Marine Division were pushed several miles south and eventually evacuated.
“The 31 st Regimental Combat Team … was
virtually annihilated east of the Chosin Reservoir.”
“On 4 December, when
most of its survivors had returned, the 1st Battalion, 32d Infantry, counted
only 181 officers, men, and attached Republic of Korea troops, of the original
1,053 that had begun the operation. The other battalions in the perimeter had
suffered equal losses.”
Sgt.
Lacsamana was born in 1913 in the Philippines. He was 28 years old when the
Japanese bombed the Philippines, forcing the United States into World War II.
He was a soldier in the Philippine Scouts, considered the best-trained unit in
the Philippines.
Sgt.
Lacsamana fought and died far from home, but his adopted army brought him home.
His
service with the Philippine Scouts and later with the regular U.S. Army is deserving
of a story.
(Mentioned in story at valorguardians.com.)
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