United States Korean War Battle Deaths - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
This collection contains an index of military personnel who died hostile deaths during combat in the Korean War between 1950 and 1957.

This collection was acquired from the National Archives "Access to Archival Databases" (AAD). The records are from Record Group 330 Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Additional information about this collection may be found on the National Archives website. The event date is the date died or declared dead.

Record Content
Information found in this collection may include:


 * Full name of casualty
 * Military service branch (F=U.S. Air Force, A=U.S. Army, C=U.S. Coast Guard, M=U.S. Marine Corps, N=U.S. Navy)
 * Home of record (State)
 * Home of record—County for casualties in the Army, and city, town, or municipality for the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps casualties
 * Date of birth (only year if birth is given for most Army casualties)

How to Use the Record
To begin your search it is helpful to know the following:


 * Your ancestor’s name, birth date, or place of residence
 * Other identifying information such as military branch to which he/she belonged

Search the Collection
To search the collection by name: Fill in the requested information in the boxes on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the individuals in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at the information on several individuals comparing the information about them to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:
 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names, or variations of their name, throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

Using the Information
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. For example:


 * Use the birth date along with the home of record to find your ancestor’s family in census records.
 * Use the home of record and name of your ancestor to locate church and land records.
 * Your ancestor’s occupation can lead you to other types of records such as birth or census records.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * The information in this record varies depending on the military branch in which your ancestor served
 * Birth years are recorded with only two digits. For example, instead of recording the birth year as 1925, it will be recorded as 25.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for alias names, nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor.

Related Websites

 * NARA Series Description
 * National Archives State-Level Fatal Casualty List for the Korean War
 * Korean War National Museum
 * Korean War National Museum Virtual Wall of Remembrance
 * Korean War National Museum Veteran Listing
 * National Park Service Korean War Veterans Memorial
 * Tennessee State Library and Archives Korean War Veterans Project

Related Wiki Articles

 * United States
 * United States Korean War 1950 to 1953

Citations for This Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):