Alderdice, James Alfred
Army Corporal

James Alfred Alderdice, age 20, from Brentwood, Pennsylvania, Allegheny county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 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 James A. Alderdice, who joined the U.S. Army from Pennsylvania, was a member of Company L of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 1, Company L was part of a group of American units tasked with defending positions at a juncture nicknamed “Camel’s Head Bend,” where the Nammyon and Kuryong rivers merge, southwest of Unsan. Despite holding strong positions, an order for the 8th Cavalry’s withdrawal was given. While serving as rear guard to the withdrawing troops, Company L was met by an aggressive, surprise attack from the CCF that engaged heavy hand-to-hand fighting through the next morning. When dawn broke, Company L and the rest of the 3rd Battalion, remained boxed in and it was during this time that SGT Alderdice could not be accounted for. Tactical circumstances prevented a search for him and he was not reported as a prisoner of war. Today, Sergeant Alderdice remains unaccounted for. Sergeant Alderdice is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Pittsburgh Press (1954)