Estrada, Albert Julio
Army Private 1st class

Albert Julio Estrada, age 18, from Yolo County Woodland, California .

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Wednesday, December 6, 1950
Death details: On April 16, 2025, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of Cpl. Albert Julio Estrada, missing from the Korean War. Estrada entered the U.S. Army from California and was a member of Battery B, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division. Estrada’s B Battery was part of the task-organized 31st Regimental Combat Team, which had been organized to relieve the 5th Marines on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir. The 31st RCT arrived at the P’ungnyuri Inlet on Nov. 27, 1950. That night, Chinese Communist Forces launched a massive surprise attack against the 31st RCT. Large-scale attacks continued through Dec. 1, when the RCT withdrew to the town of Hagaru-ri at the base of the Chosin Reservoir. By Dec. 2, the survivors of the 31st RCT were in place on the defensive perimeter surrounding the town of Hagaru-ri near East Hill. Chinese forces attacked their positions on the evening of Dec. 3 and again overnight on December 5-6. A general withdrawal to Hamhung began on December 6. Estrada went missing during the fighting in Hagaru-ri on Dec. 6, 1950. The U.S. Army did not receive any information to indicate that he was ever held as a Prisoner of War and, absent evidence of his survival, on Dec. 31, 1953, issued a presumptive finding of death. He was declared non-recoverable on Jan. 16, 1956. In July 2018 North Korea turned over 55 boxes, purported to contain the remains of American service members killed during the Korean War. The remains arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on Aug. 1, 2018, and were subsequently accessioned into the DPAA laboratory for identification. Based on the laboratory analysis and total circumstantial evidence, a portion of the remains were identified as those of Estrada. 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, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Los Angeles Times (1954)