Sparks, Harold
Army Corporal

Harold Sparks from Washington, King county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, November 2, 1950
Death details: On February 4, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant Harold Sparks, missing from the Korean War. Sergeant Sparks entered the U.S. Army from Washington and served with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, he was with Company L supporting elements of the 1st Cavalry Division near Unsan, North Korea, north of a bend in the Kuryong River known as the “Camel’s Head Bend.” That day, Chinese Communist Forces struck the 1st Cavalry Division’s lines, collapsing the perimeter and forcing a withdrawal. SGT Sparks was captured during the combat and later held at POW Camp 5 in Pyoktong, North Korea, where he died due to lack of medical care and malnutrition on or before April 30, 1951. He was buried nearby and his body was not returned to the U.S. at the time. Between 1991 and 1994, the North Korean government turned over the human remains of U.S. service members exhumed from the POW Camp 5 area, and U.S. analysts identified SGT Sparks from these remains.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency