Shepard, Robert Alvin
Army Corporal

Robert Alvin Shepard, age 24, from Washington County Washington, Pennsylvania .

Parents: William J. Shepard

Service era: Korea
Military history: 35th Infantry Regiment

Date of death: Tuesday, November 28, 1950
Death details: On November 25, 1950, the U.S. Army 2nd and 25th Infantry Divisions were holding defensive positions south of the town of Unsan, North Korea, below the Yalu River. On November 26 and 27, Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) attacked the U.S. troops, pushing them through the towns of Ung-dong and Yongsan-dong, and on to Yongbyon, where they were given orders to establish new defensive lines. Corporal Robert Alvin Shepard entered the U.S. Army from Pennsylvania and was a member of F Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He went missing in action on November 28 during his unit’s movement to Yongbyon, but the details surrounding his loss are unknown. Corporal Shepard was not reported confirmed as a prisoner of war following his disappearance, though the United Nations Command suspected he had been captured. His remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Corporal Shepard 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, 35th Infantry Regiment Association, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Evening News (1953)