Sergeant First Class Frank Sims was born in Pensacola on February 23, 1922, the son of Allen Sims of 6098 North 10th Avenue. His father supported his family as a laborer for a construction outfit. After finishing one year of high school, Frank decided to enlist in the US Army on November 3, 1945. After his initial training, he was assigned to Battery "A" of the 503rd Field Infantry Regiment attached to the 2nd Infantry Division. This unit was only one of the two all African American units attached to the 2nd Division. By the time of the Korean War, Frank had been promoted to the rank of Sergeant First Class. At the beginning of hostilities on June 25, 1950, Frank and his battalion were rushed to the Pusan Peninsular on July 23rd, becoming the first American unit to arrive from the states. They were deployed to the Naktong River where they replaced the decimated 24th Division.
Frank's division broke through the enemy encirclement at Pusan and began fighting its way north. MacArthur's famous Inchon landing placed UN troops in the rear of the North Koreans and enemy resistance began to crumble. Fighting their way north at a rapid pace, Frank and the 2nd Division arrived within fifty miles of the Yalu River and the Manchurian border by mid-November 1950. Along the way, Frank's battalion had to be supplied with winter uniforms and gear as the temperatures began to drop. By November 25th, the temperatures had dropped to minus -30 degrees, the coldest in over a century. By this time, the battalion was located at Kunu-Ri where they were boxed in by the mountains.
On November 25th, over 300,000 Chinese soldiers suddenly stormed across Yalu River without warning. It was the 2nd Infantry Division that happened to be the farthest north unit. Entrenched on the Chongchon River, they were struck so hard they had no chance of halting the Chinese advance. Thus, they were forced to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon or be annihilated. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri heading for Sunchon, they fought an intensive rearguard action as the vanguard fought to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by enemy infiltrators. The 2nd Infantry Division, containing the 503rd Field Artillery Battalion suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Many of the boys from the battalion were captured in the process including Frank Sims (Co. A), John W. Hall (HQ CO.) and 1Lt. Luther Napolean Waters from (Co. C). They were captured on December 1, 1950, just south of Kunu-ri and marched to Camp #5. There, Waters and Sims died from abuse and were buried near the camp. Waters' and Hall's remains were never identified among those returned to the US. However, Hall's remains on the other hand were recently identified on June 6, 2017 and returned to the states for burial. Frank's battery commander, Captain William Harris Hickman, was also reported missing on November 30 and has never been found.
Official tabulation after the battle was that the 2nd Infantry Division had suffered 4,037 casualties, most of its artillery pieces, 45 percent of its crew-served weapons, and 30 percent of its vehicles during the battle. One participant of the battle was Congressman Charles B. Rangel who was attached to the 503rd Field Artillery with Frank Sims. In an interview, he describes the chaos and horror of the battle as a life-changing experience. As he says, "It was beyond your worst nightmare… nothing could be as frightening as that day."
Pensacolian Sergeant First Class Frank Sims was never found but his DNA has been collected from relatives in case his remains are ever discovered. On February 4, 1954, he was declared "presumed dead" and his name was inscribed on the "Missing War Memorial" in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Charles B. Rangel of the 503rd Field Artillery,
survived and went on to become a US Congressman
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