'He saved us'
by Jennifer Hill
News-Post Staff

	This insignia represents Sgt. Jacob Ely's rank at the time of his disappearance.
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Enduring months of combat in the narrow valleys and extreme cold of North Korea, U.S. Army Sgt. Jacob Ely and Charles Herian wound up crammed with three other soldiers in an M-4 tank patrolling the Yalu River boundary between Korea and China.

Ely, a 34-year-old from Walkersville, was stationed with Herian for six months in Japan before they were assigned to the same tank.

"I don't know if he was a wonderful person — I just know that he saved our butts from the very first day," said Herian, of Melbourne, Fla.

In 1950, at the dawn of the Korean War, the U.S. Army called for tank crews in North Korea.

Ely was an old hand at gunning. He had gained experience and a reputation with the M-7 long-range gun in World War II, so the tank crew hand-picked him. Ely was so good the Army transferred him from Herian's tank to the lieutenant's.

"In those days, two or three tanks was a lot, and the valleys were small, narrow," Herian said. "We never saw each other."

After a battle that lasted all night and through the early morning hours of Nov. 28, 1950, Ely was never heard from again.

Army documents state that by late November 1950, U.S., Republic of Korea and United Nations allied units had driven the communists from South Korea, only to be attacked by volunteer Chinese Communist Forces just when they were too far apart to adequately support each other.

On Nov. 27, Ely's division, the 35th Regimental Combat Team, quickly assumed defensive positions to protect its left flank.

Army records depict Ely's final battle:

During the evening, a curious assemblage of around 100 farmers was detected in the RCT rear area; these "farmers" turned out to be Chinese infiltrators setting up a road block between the regiment and the town of Yongsong-dong, which contained the only road to the south. Between 11 p.m. and midnight, a strong Chinese force attacked from the north. The fight lasted until dawn.

Ely was a crew member of a tank which was supporting the 35th RCT. The tank was knocked out and set afire, [the] crew was forced to abandon the tank in the opposing forces territory and Ely was seen being hit by small arms fire immediately after abandoning the tank in the vicinity of Yongsong-dong, North Korea.

The U.N. did not regain the ground where Ely was last seen. His body was never found. The military declared him missing In action and issued a presumption of death Dec. 31, 1953.

Herian credits Ely with saving his life and the lives of the other soldiers in the tank.

"It was good to have him with us — he had experience," Herian said. "We were just kids going into combat, and he saved us."