Toress, Robert Joseph
Army Private

Robert Joseph Toress, age 18, from Hampden County Springfield, Massachusetts .

Parents: Samuel F. Toress

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Monday, July 31, 1950
Death details: On July 28, 1950, members of the 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, were in defensive positions near Kochang, South Korea, west of the Naktong River. They served as part of a defensive formation soon to be known as the Pusan Perimeter, meant to delay the North Korean People’s Army’s (NKPA) advance through South Korea long enough so that reinforcements could arrive at Pusan Harbor. That night, members of the 34th Infantry reported seeing a procession of enemy tanks and infantry assemble behind a roadblock west of Kochang. The next morning, this NKPA force attacked the 34th Infantry positions from two directions. Continuous enemy fire eventually forced the regiment to withdraw to the east; however, Company I was cut off by the NKPA. A counterattack was successful in rescuing all but one platoon from Company I, though many men were killed or went missing during these actions. Private Robert J. Toress entered the U.S. Army from Massachusetts and was a member of D Company, 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was killed in action on July 31 during the early morning fighting near Kochang. His body was not recovered at the time, and his remains were not recovered or identified following the war. Today, Private Toress 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, The Republican (1950)