Special Recognition of the Life and Service of Corporal Clark E. Worline

Floor Speech

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Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and remember the life and service of a dedicated American, Corporal Clark E. Worline. Corporal Worline was born on May 19, 1930. He enlisted in the Army in June 1947 and was assigned to the U.S. Army Chemical Center in Maryland until his unit was sent to the Republic of Korea during the Korean War.

Corporal Worline served with Charlie Company, 2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion, Eighth U.S. Army. His unit was part of the Second Infantry Division which came under heavy attack on November 24, 1950, during the Battle of Chongchon against the Chinese People's Volunteer Forces in the vicinity of Sinjang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Corporal Worline's unit was surrounded the next day, and six soldiers from his unit were reported missing in action on November 26, 1950. While no witness accounts or other historical records exist, the Army believes he may have been captured and marched to a temporary holding camp known as Death Valley in December 1950. In March 1951, a group of POWs were marched to POW Camp 5, located at Pyoktong, along the Yalu River in North Korea. Corporal Worline was likely in a group of 109 prisoners that made the march. Corporal Worline was never returned, and the U.S. Army declared him dead on December 31, 1953. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal and also received the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation, and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.

During Operation GLORY, the exchange of dead between combatant countries of the Korean War in Autumn 1954, remains that were recovered from POW Camp 5, Pyoktong, North Korea, were returned to the U.S. Army. One set of Camp 5 remains was designated Unknown X-14326 and interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as The Punchbowl, in Hawaii.

In August 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency analyzed those remains for possible identification through match with any soldier known to have been buried at Camp 5. Although Corporal Worline was not reported as having been at Camp 5, the presence of two other soldiers from his unit at that camp and historical precedence that POWs often remained at such camps without the knowledge of others around them established the possibility that Corporal Worline died there without his presence or death being noted by either the North Korean People's Army or other American POWs.

His remains were identified on September 9, 2022, by The Defense POW/ MIA Accounting Agency. Their review made positive identification and allowed Corporal Worline to begin his final journey home. As part of his repatriation, the Honorable Transfer of Remains from Dayton International Airport took place on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. After Corporal Worline's memorial service on Friday, May 19, he will finally be laid to rest at Fairview Cemetery in his hometown of Dupont, Ohio with full military honors.

Mr. Speaker, I ask our colleagues to join me in paying special tribute to the life and service of Corporal Clark E. Worline. On behalf of the people of Northwest Ohio, we recognize the sacrifice that Corporal Worline made for his country, and we thank his family for his service to our Nation.

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