United States Korean War 1950 to 1953

About 54 thousand of the 5 million American service men and women who served in the Korean War were killed. The Korean War was a United Nations affair. Twenty-two nations were involved.

Official Military Personnel Files
The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis maintains Korean War Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF).

Access to Non-Archival Military Service Records is limited. Non-Archival records are those of service members who separated from the military less than 62 years ago. See Access to Non-Archival Records for more information. Records of individuals who left service more than 62 years ago are considered Archival Records and become records of the National Archives open to the general public.

Order records from the National Personnel Records Center, in St. Louis at the Start your Military Service Record Request page at the National Archives website.

Records Loss
On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the NPRCdestroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files. The affected record collections are described below.

No duplicate copies of the records that were destroyed in the fire were maintained, nor was a microfilm copy ever produced. There were no indexes created prior to the fire. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. Nevertheless, NPRC uses many alternate sources in its efforts to reconstruct basic service information to respond to requests. See Other Methods to Obtain Military Service Records,  Access to Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) - for the General Public, and  Auxiliary and Organizational Records, Holdings.

Draft Records
In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act, creating the country’s first peacetime draft and officially establishing the Selective Service System. The draft continued from 1948, during both peacetime and war, to 1973, when President Richard M. Nixon signed legislation officially ending the draft. The Selective Service registration requirement was later suspended in April 1975. However, in 1980, President James E. Carter resumed Selective Service registration in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Selective Service System remains in place today.

In addition to WWII Draft Records, the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, MO maintains Post-WWII through Vietnam Era Selective Service Records, for all men born before 1960. Please note: Men born from March 29, 1957 – December 31, 1959 were not required to register with Selective Service because the registration program was suspended when they would have reached age 18. The requirement to register with Selective Service was reinstated in 1980 but only for men born January 1, 1960, or later.

How to Order a Draft Record
Copies of WWII though Vietnam era (men born April 28, 1877 to March 28, 1957) Selective Service Records may be obtained from the National Personnel Records Center, in St. Louis, for a fee.

Written requests should be mailed to: National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132-5100.

Please note: Selective Service Records for men born after January 1, 1960 are maintained by the Selective Service System.

Information in a Draft Record
For men who registered for the draft prior to 1976, the only Selective Service System information available is that of the individual Draft Registration Card (SSS Form 1) and Classification History (SSS Form 102) records.

All other individual draftee files from that period were destroyed by the Selective Service System in 1978, in accordance with approved records retention schedules. Physical examination and test results, medical letters, laboratory work and other medical documentation that may have been included in these files no longer exist.

The individual Draft Registration Card (SSS Form 1) may contain information such as: name, Selective Service registration number, age, date and place of birth, ethnicity, place of residence at time of registration and basic physical description.

The Classification History (SSS Form 102) may contain: name; date of birth; classification and date of mailing notice; date of appeal to the board; date and results of armed forces physical examination; entry into active duty or civilian work in lieu of induction (may include date, branch of service entered and mode of entry, such as enlisted or ordered); date of separation from active duty or civilian work; and general remarks.

Unit Histories
For information regarding official military unit histories, contact:

Air Force U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency 600 Chenault Circle Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6424 Telephone: (334) 953-2395

Army U.S. Army Center of Military History 103 3rd Avenue Fort Lesley J. McNair, DC 20319-5058 Telephone: (202) 685-4042

Navy U.S. Naval History &amp; Heritage Command Washington Navy Yard, Bldg 57 (3rd Floor) Washington, DC 20374 Telephone: (202) 433-3224

Marine Corps U.S. Marine Corps History Division 3078 Upshur Avenue Quantico, Virginia 22134 Telephone: (703) 432-4877

Coast Guard U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office Commandant (CG-09224) U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters 2100 Second Street SW Washington, D.C. 20593

Unit Histories
 * Clark C. Munroe. The Second United States Infantry Division in Korea, 1950-1951.Tokyo, Japan : Toppan Print. Co, 1951.FHL 951.9 M4sb
 * Edward L. Daily.The legacy of Custer's 7th U.S. Cavalry in Korea.Paducah, Kentucky : Turner Pub. Co., 1990. FHL 973 M2dL
 * Ronald H. Dykes. Building bridges and roads in the Korean conflict : history of Company B, from Scottsboro, Alabama, during the "forgotten war"Bloomington, Indiana : iUniverse, 2010. FHL 976.1 M2dr

Related Websites
 * Korean War Project:Looking for Korean War Units

Casualty Records
The National Archives prepared these state level casualty lists by creating extracts from the Korean War Extract Data File and the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File, both as of April 29, 2008, of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Files, part of Record Group 330: Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The lists are based on the "home of record - state" data provided by the serviceman or woman upon last entrance into military service. "Home of record" does not necessarily refer to the place of birth, residence of next of kin, place of longest residence, nor other common uses of the term "hometown." Full casualty records may be retrieved online through the National Archives' Access to Archival Databases resource. FamilySearch Catalog
 * State-Level Fatal Casualty Lists sorted Alphabetically by Last Name
 * Press Releases and Other Records Relating to Korean War Casualties, 1950 - 1953
 * Korean War Casualty Rosters, 10/25/1953 - 11/24/1953
 * Records on Korean War Dead and Wounded Army Casualties, 1950 - 1970
 * Naval Casualty Lists for World War II and Korean War Battles, 1941 - 1956
 * Korean War Casualty File, 2/13/1950 - 12/31/1953
 * Press releases of Korean casualties, 1950-1953
 * U.S. military personnel who died from hostile action (including missing and captured declared dead) in the Korean War, 1950-1957 : Arizona

The Military Index
Most of these casualties are documented in the Military Index, a FamilySearch file. This index includes those who died or who were declared dead from 1950 to 1957 in Korea and from 1957 to 1975 in Southeast Asia. The index gives birth and death dates, country of death, cause of death (air, ground, or sea), town and state of residence at time of enlistment, race, religious affiliation, service number, rank, and branch of service.


 * The Military Index is available at the Family History Library and at most family history centers. For more information on this index on www.FamilySearch.org, see the publication Military Index, Third Edition, January 1995. Series FS, Number 2.

Casualties
The Korean War Veteran's Memorial Honor RollThis database lists 38,424 American service men and women who died between June 27, 1950 to July 27, 1954 (1 year after the Armistice). It also includes service personnel who died within the Demilitarized Zone of Korea since 1954. Some died in other areas of the world. This database also includes the names of 8,196 MIAs.
 * American Battle Monuments Commission
 * National Archives
 * Korean War and Vietnam War casualties listed at the National Archives

Prisoner of War and Missing in Action Records

 * Missing in action -Wikipedia

POW's and MIA's

 * Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Records of U.S. Military Casualties, Missing in Action, and Prisoners of War from the Era of the Korean War are available through the National Archives.

The National Archives has an online searchable database, entitled "Records of American Prisoners of War During the Korean War," documenting the period 1950 - 1953.
 * Repatriated American Prisoners of War File, ca. 1945 - ca. 1975
 * Records of Repatriated Korean War Prisoners of War, 1978 - 1980
 * Records of American Prisoners of War During the Korean War, 1950 - 1953
 * Naval Case Files of American Prisoners of War During the Korean War, 1952 - 1956


 * Tim Wehrkamp, comp. Records relating to American prisoners of war and missing-in-action personnel from the Korean War and during the Cold War Era.Washington, D.C. : National Archives and Records Administration, 1997. FHL 973 J53w

Korean War MIA's are included in the The American Battle Monuments Commission has a database of Korean War casualties and MIA's. You may request an Honor Roll Certificate. This database includes the names of 39,000 service casualties and 8,196 missing.

Awards and Decorations

 * Medal of Honor - Korea - Marine Corps NAID 74225128 This entry in the National Archives Catalog has about fourteen pictures.
 * Naval Korean War Air Medal Citation Files, 1951 - 1953

National Archives

 * Korean War Records
 * Military Resources - Korean War
 * Rebecca L. Collier, comp. National Archives records relating to the Korean War : reference information paper 103.Washington, D.C. : National Archives and Records Administration, 2003. FHL 973 J53c
 * United States National Archives Twentieth Century Military Records

Related FamilySearch Historical Record Collections
 * United States American Prisoners of War During the Korean War, 1950-1953
 * United States Korean War Battle Deaths, 1950-1957
 * United States Korean War Dead and Army Wounded, 1950-1953
 * United States Korean War Repatriated Prisoners of War, 1950-1954

Related Websites
 * Korean War Project
 * Korean War Databases
 * Korean War Veterans Memorial National Park Service
 * Veterans History Project Library of Congress

For Further Reading

 * Harry G. Summers, Jr. Korean War almanac. New York, New York : Facts on File, c1990. FHL 973 M2su
 * James I. Matray. Historical dictionary of the Korean War.New York, New York : Greenwood Press, c1991. FHL 973 M26h
 * Harry Spiller American POWs in Korea : sixteen personal accounts. Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company Inc., Publishers, 1998. FHL 973 M2spi
 * Pamela Wood, chief editor;Berry Craig. The forgotten war ... remembered : Korean War veterans association.Paducah, Kentucky : Turner Pub. Co., c1990, 1993. FHL 973 M2cra
 * James S. Santelli and Michael Quinlivan. An Annotated Bibliography Of The U. S. Marine Corps In The Korean War Washington, D.C.: Historical Division. Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps, 1970.