Cunningham, Alfred Hugh
Marines Corporal

Alfred Hugh Cunningham from Kansas, Butler county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Wednesday, November 29, 1950
Death details: On the evening of November 27, 1950, a huge Chinese force launched an attack against the U.S. and United Nations (UN) troops stationed in the Chosin Reservoir area in north-east North Korea. The resulting seventeen-day conflict became known as the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. After a fierce defense, U.S. and UN forces attempted to withdraw south from the Chosin Reservoir to the port of Hungnam. A single seventy-eight-mile roadway connecting the reservoir to Hungnam offered the only retreat route, and the withdrawing men faced significant enemy resistance as they traveled down it, attempting to avoid encirclement. After suffering heavy casualties, the U.S. and UN troops eventually broke through Chinese lines and reached Hungnam. Corporal Alfred Hugh Cunningham, who joined the U.S. Marine Corps from Kansas, served with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. He was killed in action on November 29 during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, towards the end of a three-day fight to maintain control of the crest of Hill 1282, which overlooked the town of Yudam-ni. His remains could not be recovered before his unit was forced to withdraw, and his remains could not be recovered or identified following the war. Today, Corporal Cunningham is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency