Cuddeford, Ernest Paul
Army Private

Ernest Paul Cuddeford, age 18, from Kootenai County Coeur d’Alene, Idaho .

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Thursday, July 27, 1950
Death details: In late July of 1950, members of the 3rd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, served as part of U.S. forces defending Korea from the advancing North Korean People’s Army (NKPA). On July 24, they were attached to the 19th Infantry Regiment, which was positioned at the southern portion of the American defensive line. On July 25, they received a warning to secure the Hadong Pass in South Korea before the NKPA arrived there. Upon the Americans’ arrival on July 27, they were ambushed by a large enemy force. Despite mounting a fierce resistance, the 19th Infantry Regiment and attached units were unable to stop the NKPA from capturing the pass. The 3rd Battalion suffered significant casualties as a result of the battle. Private Ernest Paul Cuddeford, who joined the U.S. Army from Idaho, was a member of I Company, 3rd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was killed in action on July 27, 1950, during the fighting at Hadong Pass, South Korea. His remains could not be recovered due to the active battlefield conditions at that time. When U.S. forces retook the Hadong area in late September, none of the remains recovered there could be associated with Private Cuddeford. He is still unaccounted-for. Today, Private Cuddeford 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, Associated Press (1950)