Hicks, Vester Jr.
Army Private 1st class

Vester Jr. Hicks from Tennessee, Wayne county.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Saturday, December 2, 1950
Death details:

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of U.S. Army Cpl. Vester Hicks Jr., missing from the Korean War on Sept. 4, 2025.

Hicks entered the Army from Tennessee and served in C Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. On the evening of Nov. 27, 1950, Chinese Communist Forces launched a massive attack against U.S. and United Nations troops positioned around the Chosin Reservoir in northeast North Korea. Elements of the 31st and 32nd Infantry Regiments were defending ground north of Sinhung-ni on the east side of the reservoir when the numerically superior enemy forced a withdrawal toward Hagaru-ri on Dec. 1. The route south, cut by Chinese roadblocks and subjected to constant fire from surrounding high ground, broke the column into smaller groups that were attacked repeatedly during the fighting withdrawal. Many soldiers were killed or captured, and survivors reached friendly lines at Hagaru-ri on Dec. 2 and 3. Hicks went missing during this withdrawal on or about Dec. 2, but the specific circumstances of his loss are unknown. In 1954, during Operation Glory, North Korea returned remains believed to be those of American service members, including one set designated Unknown X-15894. These remains, reportedly recovered from the east side of the Chosin Reservoir, were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. On March 8, 2021, as part of Phase Four of DPAA’s Korean War Disinterment Project, X-15894 was disinterred and accessioned into a DPAA Laboratory for analysis. There, scientists used modern forensic techniques to identify Hicks.

He is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency