U.S. Army Cpl. Benjamin (Benny) R. Bazzell died in North Korea at the age of 18.
SEYMOUR — The remains of U.S. Army Cpl. Benjamin (Benny) R. Bazzell will be interred April 21 at Tohoma National Cemetery in Washington state, the Army announced in a press release April 11.
Cpl. Bazzell was from Seymour and served his country during the Korean War.
He was killed in action at the age of 18 on Nov. 30, 1950, but his remains were unaccounted for about 70 years, leaving a hole in the hearts of his immediate and extended family here in the Naugatuck Valley.
Cpl. Bazzell’s mother was Helen Bazzell, whose granddaughter is former state Rep. Linda Gentile of Ansonia.
The family, for several generations, refused to forget about “Uncle Benny.”
“My grandmother had pretty much a breakdown from all this because there was no closure. When she was able, she channeled her energy into Gold Star Mothers, and that’s when she started writing all of these letters,” Gentile told The Valley Indy last year.
Click here for a story The Valley Indy published in December.
North Korea returned Cpl. Bazzell’s remains on July 27, 2018 and he was officially accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on April 16, 2020 using circumstantial evidence and scientific analysis, according to the Army.
Cpl. Bazzell is being interred in Washington state because his sister, Beverly, lives there.
Cpl. Bazzell was a member of Headquarters Battery, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division. He fought and died in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir.
The battle, which dragged on for roughly two weeks starting in late November, is considered by military experts as among the most brutal ever fought.
Temperatures plummeted to minus 36 degrees Fahrenheit. Thousands of Chinese soldiers flooded Cpl. Bazzell’s position, which was to the east of the reservoir. The battle was hand-to-hand at times.
A 2001 military document says Cpl. Bazzell was killed either protecting the perimeter of his area from Chinese troops, who were attempting to destroy American artillery positions; or he may have been killed as American service members – surrounded by Chinese troops – fought to reach Koto-ri, where there were troop reinforcements.
According to the Army:
“Bazzell’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monument Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.”
