If ever there was a “typical” background for the first batch
of young U.S. Army soldiers committed to Korea in July 1950, Master Sergeant
Samuel Edward Scott fit that profile.
Known back home as “Sammie,” he was the fifth of six children born (as
of 1930) to Sam and Emma Scott of Weakley County, Tennessee. When little Sammie was born in 1924, his
father, a farmer, was age 51. His mother was 36. The Great Depression undoubtedly wore on the
Scott family; both of Sammie’s parents were dead before 1950. Young Samuel
Scott came of age just in time to enlist in the Army for service in World War
II. He earned a Purple Heart medal for
wounds received in the European Theater of operations.
Scott was one of many enlisted reservists hurriedly recalled
to active duty after the outbreak of war in Korea. He returned at the rank of Master Sergeant
with a military occupational specialty (MOS) of rifleman - exactly the sort of duty
that was consuming lives faster than the Army could provide replacements.
There are no records indicating when MSG Scott arrived in Korea,
but it must have been before September 1, 1950. He was one of the survivors of
the 34th Infantry Regiment, which had been ruthlessly mauled during
July and August. Like PVT Philip Hughes,
MSG Scott was relegated to King Company of the 19th Infantry
Regiment after the 34th was disbanded on September 1.
Also like Philip Hughes, Samuel Scott would serve with the 19th only for a matter of days before his luck ran out. On Saturday, September 9, 1950, MSG Scott
was killed by North Korean forces encroaching on Hill 300, located on the
western side of South Korea’s Hyongsan Valley, just north of Kyongju.
The Western Union telegram announcing his death was sent to
his older sister.
Slowly, over time, photos of PVT Philip Hughes’s brothers-in-arms
are showing up on line. MSG Scott was my
latest discovery.
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