Kekoa, Joseph Kahaunani
Army Private

Joseph Kahaunani Kekoa from Hawaii.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Unknown
Death details: On July 11, 1950, the U.S. Army’s 21st Infantry Regiment, which had arrived in Korea six days earlier, was placed in defensive positions near the town of Chochiwon, South Korea. The regiment was not at full strength and lacked artillery and anti-tank weapons. That day, they were attacked by North Korean forces and were forced to withdraw to avoid being surrounded, as well as to buy time until they could be reinforced and resupplied. Private First Class Joseph Kahaunani Kekoa, who joined the U.S. Army from Hawaii, served with I Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was wounded and captured by enemy forces on July 12 as his unit fought the North Korean People’s Army near Chochiwon, and was forced to march north to a temporary prison camp at Manpo, North Korea. Weakened by his wounds, he died of heart failure and exposure in late September. Although he was buried in a cemetery in Manpo, his remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire. Today, Private First Class Kekoa is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency