Honoring One of the Missing Marines of Chosin
PFC CHARLES H. McCARTHY
U.S. Marine Corps
Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines
1st Marine Division
Missing in Action — December 2, 1950
Chosin Reservoir, North Korea
Home of Record: Massachusetts
THE FROZEN CHOSIN RESERVOIR
In late November 1950, the 1st Marine Division advanced into the mountains surrounding the Chosin Reservoir, unaware that massive Chinese forces had moved into position.
Temperatures plunged to nearly −30°F.
Weapons froze.
Vehicles failed.
Wounded Marines risked freezing before evacuation.
Then the encirclement began.
More than 100,000 Chinese soldiers surrounded roughly 15,000 U.N. troops.
LAST KNOWN ACTION
Private First Class Charles H. McCarthy fought with Fox Company during the desperate fighting that followed.
Marine units defended isolated hill positions through repeated night assaults as they began the fighting withdrawal south toward Hungnam.
During heavy combat on December 2, 1950, McCarthy was reported missing as positions were overrun and units forced to break contact under extreme conditions.
Despite postwar recovery efforts, his remains were never located.
He remains officially classified as:
Missing in Action — Korean War
WHY CHOSIN PRODUCED SO MANY MIAs
The brutality of Chosin created conditions unlike almost any other American battle:
- rapid movement through mountainous terrain
- extreme cold preserving and hiding remains
- enemy control of battlefield areas after withdrawal
- limited recovery access after the war
Hundreds of Marines from Chosin remain unaccounted for today.
LEGACY
The Marines who fought at Chosin later called themselves:
“The Chosin Few.”
They were not retreating, as one Marine famously said.
They were simply:
“Advancing in another direction.”
PFC Charles H. McCarthy never made that march home.
But his name stands among those who held together under impossible conditions — brothers bound by cold, courage, and duty.
Honor The Fallen. Support The Living. Teach The Next Generation.
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