Bradford, Ulysses Henry
Army Captain

Ulysses Henry Bradford from Louisiana, Orleans 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. Captain Ulysses H. Bradford, who joined the U.S. Army from Louisiana, served with Headquarters Company of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, Headquarters Company was with other 3rd Battalion units forming a defense perimeter near Unsan, North Korea, when it came under sudden and heavy enemy attack. Surrounded and besieged, the units received orders to withdraw but became trapped so took cover inside foxholes or behind bunkers. It was during the chaotic fighting that CPT Bradford was taken prisoner of war and eventually held at POW Camp #5 in Pyoktong, where he died of malnutrition on April 30, 1951. His remains were not recovered at the time, and attempts to locate his remains since the close of war have been unsuccessful. Today, Captain Bradford is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency