US Army Hero Returns Home to Lake Wales 74 years After Fatal Battle

George Carey Manring of Lake Wales answered his nation’s call to duty by enlisting in the US Army in 1947 at the age of 18. This month he is returning home to rest. He had been missing in action since December 6, 1950.

Master Sergeant George Carey was one of “The Chosin Few” who had faced an overwhelming mass assault by the Communist Chinese Army against their positions at the Chosin Reservoir in the early days of the Korean War.

Master Sergeant Manring was part of Baker Battery, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 31st Regimental Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division. He reportedly refused to leave his artillery position and performed heroically in defending his guns which were leveled at the Chinese onslaught.

Master Sergeant Manring was reported missing in action by his unit on December 6, 1950. Sergeant Manring was never found. An elite Army team worked over multiple containers of remains of United States military personnel which had been transported back to the United States in 2018 and were able to identify Manring's remains.

A second cousin, Tommy Collier of Lake Wales, recalled the night his grandmother got a phone call from Manring’s mother, Eula, informing them that she had received a telegram informing her that he was missing in action. “We went over there for a long time that night,” Collier recalled.

“They lived on West Park Avenue,” Collier recalled. “Eula was from Opp, Alabama and her maiden name was Rhodes.”

Manring was born on April 3, 1929, in Opp to William and Eula Manring. He had moved to Lake Wales with his parents. Following his enlistment, he was initially stationed at Fort Jackson in South Carolin and in October of 1947 was sent to Fort George G. Meade in Maryland.

In May of 1948 he was transferred to Camp Stoneman in California before being deployed to Korea as part of the 31st Regimental Combat Team in November of 1950, serving under the direction of General Douglas MacArthur.

Three years after being declared missing in action, the United States Army issued a Finding of Death December 31, 1953.

Master Sergeant Manring was survived by his father, William Hollis Manring, who passed in 1965, and his mother, Eula R. Manring, who passed in 1983. His sister, Frances Tarlton, passed in 2007.

“They never got any closure on him,” Collier said.

A handful of surviving family members includes his nephew, Buddy Bowden (Diane) now of Winter Haven, and nieces, JoEllen Bowden Brogdon (John Paul) now of Bartow, Yvonne Warren now of Winter Haven, along with second cousins, Mark Collier and Tommy Collier of Lake Wales.

Master Sergeant Manring will be laid to rest with his parents in Lake Wales Cemetery at 11 a.m., Wednesday, May 28, 2025, following a graveside service with military honors.