Huston, Willie J.
Army Private 1st Class

Willie J. Huston, age 21, from New York County New York.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Friday, August 11, 1950
Death details: On August 10, 1950, members of the 3rd Battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment combined with Battery C of the 15th Field Artillery Battalion as Task Force Bradley. The task force was directed to defend the city of P’ohang-dong, and Yonil Airfield, South Korea, from an impending attack by North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) forces. Late that day, Task Force Bradley moved along the main road toward P’ohang-dong and Yonil. Much of the task force reached Yonil shortly before midnight; however, during the early hours of August 11, NKPA fighters ambushed one company and four vehicles from Battery C were ambushed by NKPA fighters, preventing the ambushed men from reaching their destination.
Corporal Willie James Huston joined the U.S. Army from New York and was a member of M Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, which was a part of Task Force Bradley. He went missing during the fighting that broke out following the NKPA ambush near P’ohang-dong, South Korea, on August 11, 1950. CPL Huston was never reported to be a prisoner of war, and he remains unaccounted-for following the incident. Today, Corporal Huston is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency