In God We Trust
The first U.S. soldier killed in the Korean War was Private Kenneth Shadrick, Skin Fork, West Virginia. He died on July 5, 1950. In 1948, 17-year-old Shadrick joined the Army after dropping out of high school. He was deployed for a year in Japan before transferring to South Korea with his unit, the 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He served as an ammunition carrier in a bazooka squad sent to stop communist tanks near Sejong, South Korea. As he aimed a rocket at an enemy tank, he stuck his head and shoulders above the gun pit to watch. The tank's machine gun returned fire, sending one bullet through his right arm, another through his chest, killing him instantly. The New York Times reported on July 7, “He died, as doughboys usually die, in a pelting rain in a muddy foxhole.”
Two anti-aircraft artillerymen from the 933 Anti-Aircraft Artillery (Automatic Weapons) Battalion on Cho-do (island) were killed during a Bed Check Charlie raid on the night of April 15, 1953. They were Pfc. Herbert Tucker of Ocean, New Jersey and Cpl. William Raymond Walsh of Queens, New York. Surviving the blast was radio repairman Albert Villanueva. [Source: Air Force Magazine, June 2011] Tucker was born October 26, 1930, in Newark, New Jersey, son of Isadore Tucker (1908-1994) and Anna Weitzner Tucker (1904-1994). Herbert Tucker had a sister, Mrs. Walter Edward (Elaine) Strahl (1937-1993) and another sibling. Herbert is buried in Toms River Jewish Cemetery, Toms River, New Jersey. Corporal Walsh was born February 13, 1931, and is buried in Long Island National Cemetery, Farmingdale, New York.