Memorials › MSGT James "Jimmy" Hart Jr

MSGT James "Jimmy" Hart Jr

8 Apr 1925 – 2 Dec 1950

Birth8 Apr 1925
Death2 Dec 1950
CemeteryWinterfield Cemetery
Winterfield , Hopkins County , Texas , USA
Added bySpud 6391 on 12 May 2022
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27096883

Gravesite details

As of 1 June 2020, the Defense POW/MIA Agency announced that M/SGT Hart's remains were recovered and accounted for. Remains were interred in the Winterfield Cemetery, in Pickton, Texas his hometown as of July 2021.

Bio

Note: As of 1 June 2020, the US Defense POW/MIA Agency announced that M/Sgt Hart's status of being unaccounted for has been changed to accounted for. This means that his remains have been returned to US custody by the North Korean Government and have been identified. On July 27, 2018, following the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in June 2018, North Korea turned over 55 boxes, purported to contain the remains of American service members killed during the Korean War. The remains arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on Aug. 1, 2018, and were subsequently accessioned into the DPAA laboratory for identification. They advise that James Hart's family will be notified and his remains will be returned for a funeral and burial in the near future. James Hart, Jr. Hopkins, Texas Born 1925 Master Sergeant, U.S. Army Service Number 38687287 Missing in Action - Presumed Dead Died December 2, 1950 in Korea Master Sergeant Hart was a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the Chinese Peoples Republic Army in North Korea on December 2, 1950 in the Chosen Reservoir area. He was presumed dead on December 31, 1953. For his leadership and valor, Master Sergeant Hart was awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal. In 1999, Company C, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Army Division was belatedly awarded the Presidential Unit Citation [PUC] Sergeant Jimmy Hart was a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division that landed with the 1st Marines [The 7th Army Division and the 1st Marine Division constituted X Corp] at Inchon on 15 September 1950 under the over all command of General Douglas MacArthur. They landed in the rear of the North Korean Army and in effect cut them off from their supply lines, home base and escape route. This caused the North Korean Army to panic and retreat from Pusan where they faced the US 8th Army across the 38th Parallel with X Corp and the 8th Army in pursuit. The commander of the 7th Infantry Division, Maj/Gen David G Barr, split his unit into three Regiments or Regimental combat teams and sent each element on separate missions to cover more territory when it looked like the North Korean Army was defeated, which in effect weaken the army's ability to respond if attacked because they were separated by miles when the Chinese intervened in massive force in late November 1950. Jimmy's regiment which was designated the 31st Regimental Combat Team [RCT-31] was in the Chosen Reservoir area in late November 1950 on the east side preparing to launch an attack toward the Chinese border. They had occupied this area when a marine unit had pulled out out on 27 Nov 1950. The temperature was below zero, and the lake was frozen. The Army X Corp Commander, Major/General Edward "Ned" Almond had been appointed commander of X Corps [7th Army Division and 2nd Marine Division] by General MacArthur. He was a close associate to MacArthur and had served as his Chief of Staff. He flew into the Chosen area on the 30th of November to give the attack order to Col. Allan D MacLean commander of RCT-31. However, Col MacLean was killed by Chinese forces on the morning of the 29th of Nov and Lt/Colonel Don Carlos Faith, Jr assumed command of the Army Unit. Gen Almond ignored reports that the Chinese had intervened [he characterized them as scattered groups of Chinese Volunteers] and stated to Lt. Col Faith the commander of the army group at the Chosen Reservoir [in North Korea] "not to let a few Chinese laundry men stop your attack." He was thus minimizing any threat from them. The Marine Commander,Major/General Oliver P Smith, ordered his marine division to dig in west of the reservoir when he received the report that the Chinese had intervened and was able to successfully repel massive Chinese attacks when they came, but the Army units of the 7th Army was exposed out front on the upper Northeast side of the Reservoir and was in attack mode and not dug in. It was actually too cold to do much digging. Some of their heavy weapons had not joined them yet. Colonel Faith planned to carry out the order of the Division Commander to attack toward the Chinese border which he disagreed with, but was attacked in force by the Chinese before he could do so. Gen Barr flew in and advised Col Faith, that the unit was basically on its own, and it had been transferred to be under the command of the Marine Division to its rear. It is believed that the Army unit was outnumbered by a ratio of 8-1. The Marines had a reinforced division of over 25,000 men, while the army combined units in the area totaled about 3000 men. Under Colonel Faith's leadership, the unit attempted to fight its way out in early afternoon, December 1, 1950. C Company [Jimmy's company] was to spearhead the break out. [Soon after the breakout commenced, Air Force and Navy planes were trying to help the column by dropping Napalm bombs on the enemy, but due to the enemy being close to the column, a mistake was made and Napalm was dropped on the leading elements of the column, and there is a strong possibility that Jimmy Hart was killed at this time, but no one knows]. The total battle lasted five nights and four days. Because of the sub-zero weather, the reservoir was frozen, and there was ice and snow on the ground and roads and no air cover was possible. The decision was made for army troops to use available roads to bring out their trucks and equipment, making it possible for the Chinese to effective put up road blocks and destroy the unit in two days of fighting. The men were sitting ducks with the Chinese on the high ground. The army unit was effective destroyed on December 2, 1950 as a fighting unit. None of their equipment got out and Colonel Faith was killed which destroyed their effective headship. The only men from the unit who were able to break out were those who walked across the frozen reservoir to the Maine lines. Only about 1050 men of the total 3000 got out. Of these only about 300 were still able to fight with the marines. The rest were killed, wounded and missing. Jimmy was one of the missing and his body was never found or returned. Almost all Army records were lost. Lt/Colonel Faith was posthumously awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor by President Truman for his leadership in the breakout. He has a memorial in Arlington National Cemetery. Few of the men's remains were recovered because a few days later the Marines had to fight their way out to the eastern coast of Korea at Hagaru-ri to be picked up by Naval ships for transport below the 38th parallel. The Chosen Reservoir lies in present North Korea and has not been accessible for the United States to recover American soldier remains readily. A book has been written by Roy E. Appleman, Lt. Col Retired, "East of Chosen-entrapment and breakout in Korea, 1950" which documents the ordeal of the Army unit and touches on the Marines on the other side of the reservoir. This is the main book about what the Army was enduring, but touches on the Marines also. There have been several books written about the Marines and their breakout, but not many that cover in detail the Army on the East side of the Reservoir. The Marines started their breakout after the Army unit had been destroyed on the East side. There is another book that came out in 2006 titled "The Chosin Chronology-Battle of the Changjin Reservoir. [The Americans were using Japanese Maps from WW II and the Japanese called the Reservoir the Chosin] This book was written by George A Rasula who was with the Army at Chosin. This book is on line and has several maps. You can find it on the internet at http://www.benning.army.mil/library/content/virtual/donovanpapers/korea/TheChosinChronology.pdf. You may be able to find these books at the Amazon online book store. This book was : "Dedicated to the memory of more than one-thousand soldiers of the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT-31), 7th Infantry Division, who were lost during the battle east of the Chosin Reservoir, 27 November - 2 December 1950, many whose remains to this day rest in the soil adjacent to the Changjin Reservoir. Those soldiers fought for four days and five nights, preventing two Chinese Communist Divisions from driving south and taking the key junction at Hagaru-ri, thereby saving the 1st Marine Division and enabling them to break out to the sea. Update: In 2014 it was announced that remains of Col Faith was recovered in North Korea and returned to U S authorities and they were interred in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC. Col Faith's father who was a Army General is also buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Taken from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times dated 7 January 1953 WASHINGTON, Jan. 7. (AP) -The Army today released its third list of soldiers missing in action in Korea who are now presumed dead. It included 22 Texans: M-Sgt. James Hart, Jr., husband of Mrs. Ruth F. Hart, Dallas. The find-a-grave memorial for LTC Don Carlos Faith, Jr, the commander of this unit is located at FAG # 6215388. Note: I was a young lad of eight or nine years of age in 1950 and attended the Winterfield Methodist several times with Jimmy and his wife Ruth just before he went overseas never to return. I looked up to him, and later after he was reported as missing in action it made a profound impact on me. I never forgot about him, and he has been in my thoughts since then especially on Memorial Day. That is why I tried to find out as much as I could about what happened to him and consider it a great tragedy that he did not return. I hope that someday, his remains will be found and returned to the US. Sgt James Hart Jr also has a memorial on the Korean War Memorial, located at Dayton, Montgomery Co, Ohio, Plot: Cenotaph-Texas Panel 9, Find-A-Grave #119002296 http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=119002296 Name appears on the Hopkins County, Texas Wall of Honor at http://www.angelfire.com/tx/vfwpost8560/Hopkins_County_Wall_of_Honor.htm Name appears on the American Battle Monuments Commission webpage at http://www.abmc.gov/search-korean-war-veterans-memorial-honor-roll/detail/Korea_13650#.VXuKB1I0ZOY Family links: Parents: James Hart (1876 - 1962) Lavonia French Hart (1892 - 1979) Siblings: Cecil Mead (1915 - 1991)** Tommie Roy Mead (1917 - 1938)** James Hart (1925 - 1950) Billy Gene Hart (1928 - 2013)* A. B. Hart (1930 - 1940)* ~ Surviors of the Battle of Chosin Resevior have a DVD about the battle that occurred in 1950. Contact http://www.taskforcefaith.com/

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