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752. Milton's November Loss 11-28-1950 Korea

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Updated: Feb 27, 2022

US Army Corporal Berl Devon Weekley was born in Milton, Santa Rosa County, Florida on February 10, 1933, the son of Raymond Stanley Weekley (1905-1944) and Arlena "Lena" Carpenter ((1910-1977). Raymond was born in Bagdad, Florida where his father, John Mack Weekley (1882-1959) worked on the steam boats before becoming a commercial fisherman. His mother was Alice M. Helms (1886-1960) who would give birth to two sons. His mother was the daughter of Thomas M. Carpenter (1862-1926) and Ella Watts (1868-1961), a pioneer of Santa Rosa County. Raymond and Lena would marry in c1921 and by 1930 the couple was living with Raymond's parents. In 1937, Raymond and Lena had split up and she had married again to Jimmy Phillips (1911-1973), a WWII Army veteran. Lena and Jimmy are buried in the Crain Cemetery in Santa Rosa County.


In 1945, Berl was living with his mother and step-father at Water Works in Santa Rosa County. His step-father was working as a laborer on a road construction crew and within the home was Berl's brother Raymond Jr. and half-brother James L. Phillips plus his widowed maternal grandmother Ella Carpenter.


Berl would enlist in the US Army and was eventually assigned to Company "D" of the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division. Shipped to Korea, Berl's regiment was pushing the North Korean Army back north when they reached the Yalu River, the boundary between China and North Korea. Suddenly without warning on November 25, as many as 300,000 Chinese soldiers stormed across the border and struck the American and UN forces like a hammer. Right in their path was Berl and the 2nd Infantry Division, which was located at the Chongchon River. Unprepared and heavily outnumbered, the 2nd Division was overrun with horrendous casualties. Falling backward, the regiment found themselves surrounded and what few roads were available were blocked by Chinese infiltrators.


On November 28th, the bloodbath continued along the Chongchon River near Kujang when Corporal Weekley went missing in action during an intense firefight. The temperature had dropped to -30 degrees, the coldest winter on record there. Many of the wounded froze to death or were covered by the falling snow. Afterwards, Berl was never listed as a prisoner of war nor were his remains ever recovered. However, a friend of his stated that he had been killed in action and not taken prisoner. Regardless, he gave his life for his country and should remembered as such.


His family was notified that he was missing in action, a status that still remains today and denies the family of closure. Today, his name is memorialized on the "Courts of the Missing" at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. It is also listed on the National Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.









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