Corporal Jesse Leroy Mitchell

Early Life

Family Life

Jesse L. Mitchell was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, on February 3, 1929. His parents were Jesse J. Mitchell and Bertha Lenore Baggs Mitchell. His paternal grandparents were William Christmas Mitchell and Mary Hale Mitchell, and his maternal grandparents were Joseph Nelson Baggs and Lena Snodgrass Baggs. 

By 1930, he and his parents had moved to an apartment in Kemp Township, Oklahoma, and by 1940, the family had purchased a small, two-bedroom house on North Broadway in Holdenville, Oklahoma. Jesse was in third grade, and his brother Joey, who was two years younger, was in second grade. 

Jesse Mitchell’s father worked 48 hours a week as a bookkeeper at the First National Bank of Atwood and then got a job with the Internal Revenue Service in 1941. His mother, Bertha, worked 56 hours a week as a salesperson at a dress shop and later worked in the local Sylvania factory. His father made $6,200, but his mother only made $380 in these early jobs. It was around this time that the family moved to Clinton, Oklahoma.

Education

After graduating from Clinton High School in Clinton, Oklahoma, in 1946, Jesse (known by his middle name, Leroy) attended the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Oklahoma State University) in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He was also the Vice President of the Mustangs Pep Club, which required him to be a student in good standing. The club was created because there had been such a massive increase in enrollment following World War II and a desire to “bring back the prewar Aggie spirit.” The Mustangs were deeply involved in all athletic events at the school and even attended football games in Kansas and Denver, Colorado.  Jesse was also initiated as a member of Lambda Chi on April 19, 1947.

Jesse Mitchell did not graduate from college. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1948 and listed his last civilian job as a truck driver making $20 weekly. He never married or had children. His younger brother, Billy Joe, later enlisted in the U.S. Army and became a corporal, stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. 

Homefront

Clinton, Oklahoma

Clinton, Oklahoma, was a small town with a population of around 7,000. The cotton oil mill, cotton gin, and meat-packing plant employed many residents.  The population increased by 12% between 1940 and 1950. The town was located directly on historic Route 66 and had considerable traffic, making it a steady hotspot for Oklahoma travelers and workers. 

Consequently, many truck drivers and salesmen lived and worked around the town. There were a variety of hotels, service stations, and a park with tennis courts, a baseball field, a bathhouse, and picnic facilities. Clinton’s downtown scene was booming during the Korean War, with multiple cafes, retail shops, a theater, and even a C.R. Anthony Company, an upscale department store. 

Clinton was considered the ‘Hub of the Southwest.’ Though it was a small town, it was vibrant and thriving due to its many businesses and services within the city limits. Clinton had the classic Route 66 charm, which has been restored and lures many tourists today. 

Stillwater, Oklahoma

When Jesse attended Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Oklahoma State University), Stillwater, Oklahoma, had seen meteoric growth in its population. Between 1910 and 1930, the population had doubled from around 3,400 to 7,000. By 1940, there were over 10,000 residents. Between 1940 and 1950, the population surged to over 20,000.

During World War II, Oklahoma A&M College offered its airstrip to the government to train pilots for the war. Over 1,500 pilots were trained in Stillwater. Following the war, the airstrip was used to store surplus planes. Due to all this activity, Oklahoma A&M College began an impressive flight program that became a social phenomenon and brought some vitality back to the college, which struggled after World War II to keep up its enrollment numbers.

Stillwater has always been a mecca of agriculture in Oklahoma. The 1947 cotton shortage led to a backlog of insufficient supplies to meet domestic and foreign consumption needs. Oklahoma was the only state to see a decrease in cotton planting (2%) and desperately tried to keep up. By 1949, cotton and corn crops were booming in Stillwater, producing the best cotton crop in Custer County’s history. 

In 1950, Stillwater farmers were outraged by the federal government asking them to plow up cotton crops that were accidentally overplanted or face fines. Given the national emergency and the need for cotton, this was a devastating and extremely wasteful blow. 

Military Experience

Early Military Assignments

After completing boot camp in 1948, Mitchell was assigned duties with the 557^th Military Police (MP) Company and served in Okinawa, Japan. He returned to Camp Stoneman, California, in January 1950 and re-enlisted in the U.S. Army. Eventually, Mitchell was reassigned to Company C, 1^st Battalion, 19^th Infantry Regiment, which deployed to Korea, arriving in Pusan, South Korea, in August 1950 as part of the 24^th Infantry Division.

Deployment in Korea

Mitchell arrived in Pusan, South Korea, with the 19^th Infantry Regiment on August 20, 1950. Upon arrival, Mitchell’s unit joined the U.S. Army I Corps, Eighth Army, and the Army units of the Republic of Korea who defended the Pusan Perimeter, halting the North Korean takeover of the Korean Peninsula.

The Eighth Army, working in concert with the U.S. invasion at Inchon, broke the North Korean Pusan Perimeter. By the end of September, the 19^th Infantry Regiment advanced northward to Seoul, recapturing the city and moving north to Pyongyang despite logistical difficulties and supply shortages. By October 20, 1950, the United Nations (U.N.) forces captured the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

Chinese Troops Enter North Korea

The destruction of the North Korean forces and the rapid advance of U.N. forces through North Korea toward the Chinese border on the Yalu River prompted Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong, to order the People’s Liberation Army to secretly enter North Korea and engage U.N. forces under the name People’s Volunteer Army (PVA). This began the First Phase Campaign, an operation to destroy the Republic of Korea (ROK) II Corps, the vanguard and the right flank of the Eighth Army.

Taking advantage of their early success, the PVA launched another attack on the Eighth Army on November 1, 1950, resulting in the loss of the ROK 15^th Infantry Regiment and the U.S. 8^th Cavalry Regiment at Unsan. Chinese forces were pouring into the rear of the U.N. lines, and the Eighth Army was forced to retreat to the Ch’ongch’on River. Four hundred forty-nine U.S. soldiers were killed, and the ROK lost 530 soldiers. PVA losses were estimated at over 600.

On November 4, 1950, observers reported that approximately 1,000 PVA enemy soldiers crossed the Kuryong River three kilometers (two miles) northwest of the 1^st Battalion, 19^th Infantry Regiment, and moved south through wooded terrain to position themselves behind the battalion. The enemy maneuver succeeded. PVA troops captured the battalion’s radio while the operator was using it to report the situation to the regimental headquarters. The battalion did not make much of a fight, and, after destroying and abandoning its heavy equipment and vehicles, it withdrew eastward. Corporal Mitchell was captured by enemy forces sometime during this battle and declared Missing in Action (MIA).

Commemoration

Based on eyewitness testimony, a U.S. Army review board determined on July 23, 1953, that Corporal Jesse Leroy Mitchell died in North Korean Prison Camp Number 5 in Pyoktong, North Korea, from malnutrition. He was buried without identification alongside other Prisoners of War (POWs). His official date of death was determined to be August 31, 1951. 

In 2024, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), using a combination of medical records and DNA evidence, identified Corporal Mitchell’s remains from unidentified remains returned by North Korea. Corporal Mitchell was initially interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, but eventually returned home to be interred in the Fairview Cemetery in Shawnee, Oklahoma, on October 12, 2024.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

“Big increase in cotton acreage.” Stillwater News-Press [Stillwater, OK], July 8, 1947. Newspapers.com (839232184)

“Buddies Told Story of Jesse Mitchell’s Death in Captivity.” Holdenville Daily News [Holdenville, OK],  August 13, 1953. Newspapers.com (902111639). 

Clinton circa 1947. Photograph. Friends of the Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma Historical Society (23359.39). https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1592078/

“Cotton crop looking good over county.” Clinton Daily News [Clinton, OK], July 2, 1950. Newspapers.com (707616088). 

Custer County Maps. Clinton Area. Map. Custer County. www.custer.okcounties.org.

“Farmers don’t like idea of plowing cotton.” Clinton Daily News [Clinton, OK], July 21, 1950. Newspapers.com (707617777).

“Flying Aggies get challenge.” Stillwater News-Press [Stillwater, OK], March 4, 1949. Newspapers.com (839252684).

Jesse L. Mitchell, Individual Deceased Personnel File, Department of the Army. National Archives and Records Administration – St. Louis.

Jesse L. Mitchell, Official Military Personnel File, Department of the Army. National Archives and Records Administration – St. Louis.

Jesse Leroy Mitchell. U.S. School Yearbooks 1900-2016. Digital images. https://ancestry.com/

“Jesse Leroy Mitchell.” Walker Funeral and Cremation Services. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://www.walkerfuneral.com/obituaries/jesse-mitchell.

“Jesse Mitchell Missing in Korea.” Shawnee News-Star [Shawnee, OK], November 29, 1950. Newspapers.com (904094316). 

Jesse Leroy Mitchell. World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947. Digital images. https://ancestry.com

“Keep em flying, Aggies.” Stillwater News- Press [Stillwater, OK], August 3, 1941. Newspapers.com (595204603). 

“Lambda Chi Alpha Initiates 7 Men.” The O’Collegian [Stillwater, OK], April 22, 1947. Newspapers.com (906761760).

“Lambda Chi Attend Founders Banquet.” The O’Collegian [Stillwater, OK], April 1, 1947. Newspapers.com (906761514).

1940 Census Enumeration District Maps, Oklahoma, Payne County, Stillwater. Map. National Archives and Records Administration. https://nara.getarchive.net/media/1940-census-enumeration-district-maps-oklahoma-payne-county-stillwater-ed-60-40f722. 

North Korean Prison Camp #5. Department of Defense. Accessed March 32, 2025. https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Photos/igphoto/2002602300/.

Oklahoma. Bryan County. 1940 Census. Digital images. https://ancestry.com.

Oklahoma. Bryan County. 1930 U.S. Census. Digital images. https://ancestry.com.

Oklahoma. Custer County. 1950 U.S. Census. Digital images. https://ancestry.com.

Oklahoma. 1950 U.S. Census Report. U.S. Census Bureau. https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1950/population-volume-1/vol-01-39.pdf.

Oklahoma. Chapter A: Statistics for the State. U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1950. https://agcensus.library.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/1950-Oklahoma-Table_of_Contents-1804-Table-02.pdf.

“Remains of Korean War Soldier to be buried in Shawnee, Oklahoma.” Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, October 15, 2024. Accessed April 2, 2025 https://www.dvidshub.net/news/483145/remains-korean-war-soldier-buried-shawnee-oklahoma.

“Soldier Accounted for from Korean War (Mitchell, J.).” Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, July 9, 2024. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/3808803/soldier-accounted-for-from-korean-war-mitchell-j/.

“Truman says no rationing for America.” Clinton Daily News [Clinton, OK], July 14, 1950. Newspapers.com (707617230). 

Secondary Sources

“1127 Days of Death–A Korean War Chronology.” Military History Online. Accessed April 4, 2025. https://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/Korea/KoreanWarPartI.

“Clinton.” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=CL016. 

“Clinton.” The Route 66 Travel Guide. Accessed April 6, 2025. https://www.theroute-66.com/clinton.html#google_vignette.

“Clinton: Hub City of Western Oklahoma.” The Route 66 Museum. Accessed January 12, 2025. https://www.theroute-66.com/clinton.html#museum.

“Cpl. Jesse Leroy Mitchell.” Find a Grave. Updated April 18, 2012. Accessed November 24, 2024. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/88723893/jesse-leroy-mitchell.

“History of Stillwater Regional.” Storymaps. Accessed January 16, 2025. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/a5a99378eced41d6b21f4f8ed689436b.

 “Jesse Leroy Mitchell.” American Battle Monuments Commission. Accessed November 23, 2024. https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/mitchell%3Djesse.

“Jesse Leroy Mitchell.” Defense Personnel POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Accessed November 24, 2024. https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/mitchell%3Djesse.

Malkasian, Carter. The Korean War. Osprey Publishing, 2001.

“Population of Clinton, OK.” Population US. Accessed January 8, 2025. https://population.us/ok/clinton/.

“Stillwater.” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society. Accessed May 2, 2025. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=ST037.

This profile was researched and created through the Researching Silent Heroes program, sponsored by the American Battle Monuments Commission.