Turner, W. D.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reference Number: TURN.W004
• Military Service: Korean War, Private, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, 8th United States Army

Notes:

NOTES FROM STEPHEN GREGORY "STEVE" LUKE (1947-2002):
W.D. Turner Lied about his age entered the Army at age 15 to fight in the Korean conflict. He was killed in the fighting in Korea at age 17 in 1950.

W. D. Turner, Private, of the
23rd Infantry Regiment, of the
2nd Infantry Division, of the
Eighth Army, Korea 1950.

On August 13 the 23rd Infantry Regiment entered the front line in Korea at the Naktong Bulge, which was already under attack by North Korean forces including tanks and infantry. Each day for the next three weeks the defenders spent their timme either driving off charge after charge by the North Koreans, or hugging their foxholes under North Korean artillery fire and air raids, or staring into the darkness at night interrupted every hour or so by enemy infiltrators who would crawl up to the foxhole line and try to kill Americans with knives.

On September 1 the combat was especially fierce, the division of about 10,000 men earning no less than six Medals of Honor, a record. During the course of the action Private W. D. Turner was killed.

The action continued to be vicious for another two days, so that the retrieval of the fallen was sporadic at best. On September 3 the division was forced to retreat from this defensive position and it was not until mid-October that American forces reconquered this battlefield.