Salvatore DeCosta, age 17, from Newark, New Jersey, Essex county.
Parents: Mildred Decosta
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Wednesday, November 8, 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. Master Sergeant Salvatore DeCosta, who joined the U.S. Army from New Jersey, was a member of Company I of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On November 2, 1950, members of Company I were occupying defensive positions with the 3rd Battalion near Unsan when they received orders to withdraw. The units faced enemy fire as they withdrew, and MSG DeCosta was wounded during the action and eventually captured. After the war, surviving prisoners reported that they witnessed MSG DeCosta’s death a few days after his capture while on a march to Prison Camp 5 near Pyoktong; however, other returnees reported that they heard that MSG DeCosta had died at Unsan. Master Sergeant DeCosta’s remains were not recovered and he was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Master Sergeant DeCosta is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Passaic Herald News (1953)