Furtado, Walter Calasopa
Army Corporal

Walter Calasopa Furtado, age 27, from Kailua, Hawaii.

Parents: Anthony C. Furtado
Spouse: Elizabeth
Children: Geraldine June and Walter Jr.

Service era: Korea
Schools: McKinley High

Date of death: Wednesday, November 1, 1950
Death details: During the last week of October 1950, Republic of Korea (ROK) Army forces under the control of the U.S. Eighth Army were advancing deep in North Korean territory, approaching the Yalu River on the Chinese-Korean border. Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) struck back in a surprise attack, engaging the ROK 1st and 6th Divisions near Unsan, some sixty miles north of Pyongyang. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, with the 8th Cavalry Regiment in the lead, was rushed forward to reinforce the ROK units in the Unsan area. On November 1, the regiment’s 1st Battalion took up positions north of Unsan, while the 2nd Battalion moved to guard the Nammyon River valley west of town, and the 3rd Battalion was placed in reserve at the valley’s southern end. Sergeant Walter Calasopa Furtado joined the U.S. Army from Hawaii and was a member of Company G of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 1, 1950, Company G came under an intense rocket and mortar attack near Unsan and was forced to withdraw. Sergeant Furtado, along with fellow members of the 2nd Battalion, drew back using the Yonghungdong-Unsan road and then came up against an enemy roadblock on the Samtan River road. Some elements of 2nd Battalion, including Sergeant Furtado, used a southwest route over Mount Obong to get clear of the enemy. Just before the unit waded across the Nammyon River, Sergeant Furtado became separated from his fellow soldiers and was not seen again. Sergeant Furtodo was never reported as a prisoner of war, and his remains were not identified among those returned to the U.S. following the war. Today, Sergeant Furtado is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Honolulu Star Bulletin (1950)