Berry, Robert Harmon
Army Private 1st Class

Robert Harmon Berry, age 18, from Massachusetts, Essex 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. Corporal Robert H. Berry, who joined the U.S. Army from Massachusetts, was a member of Company L of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, Company L occupying a defense perimeter with the 3rd Battalion near Unsan when it was surrounded by the enemy and cut off from other units. Most of the men of 3rd Battalion formed a defensive group about 3 miles south of Unsan and conducted a defense against repeated CCF attacks for two more days before being overrun. Corporal Berry went missing at some point during this time, and could not be located following the incident. A prisoner of war returning after the 1953 ceasefire mentioned he had heard from another prisoner that Corporal Berry had been killed in action during the Unsan battle. He was not identified among the remains that North Korean officials returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Corporal Berry is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency