Samuel T. Goudelock Jr.

Rank: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army

Serial: O-2028815

Unit: 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division

Hometown: Camden, New Jersey

Entered service from: New Jersey

Born: 1926, New Jersey

Died: April 16, 1953, Killed in Action, North Korea

Awards: Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Korean Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal

First Lieutenant Samuel T. Goudelock Jr. was born in New Jersey in 1926, most likely in Camden County, to Samuel T. and Catherine Goudelock. In 1930, when the Census was taken, the family, which included older brother Ulysses, lived on Cedar Avenue in Delaware Township (present-day Cherry Hill), NJ. Samuel T. Goudelock Sr. was then working in a brickyard.

The Goudelock family had moved to 1144 Baring Street in South Camden by the early 1940s. In 1947 Samuel Goudelock Sr. was working for Wickes Engineering & Construction Company at South 12th Street and Ferry Avenue. Both sons were continuing their education during these years.

Samuel T. Goudelock Jr. was a February 1944 graduate of Camden High School, where he was a member of the varsity track team and Art Club, among other activities. Known to friends as “Duke,” he was described in his yearbook as “though shy at times, [he] comes forth as an admirable individual when he has a mind to, on the track, for instance, and in art class. He’s known for his exemplary character and open-heartedness.” Other members of his graduating class included Riletta Twyne, later known as Riletta Cream, who would go on to serve as Camden High’s principal and has been a Camden County freeholder since 1994. Other members of the February 1944 class included future Chief of Police Douglas Holmes, political figure Charles Ashley, and Joseph Mangold, who also served in Camden’s police force. Another classmate, Rocco Macchia, was killed in action in Europe in 1945.

A member of the National Guard, Samuel Goudelock Jr. had been promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant by the spring of 1953. He served as a field communications officer with the 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. On April 1, 1953 he was seriously wounded while serving in North Korea. He was briefly hospitalized, and returned to his unit on April 16, 1953. First Lieutenant Samuel T. Goudelock Jr. was killed in action while fighting the enemy in North Korea on the day he returned to duty, during the action known as the Battle of Pork Chop Hill. First Lieutenant Goudelock was awarded the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster.