Church, Harold C.
Army Private

Harold C. Church, age 18, from Franklin County Columbus, Ohio .

Parents: Drew Church

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Friday, August 11, 1950
Death details: On August 11, 1950, twenty members of Company B, 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion, 24th Infantry Division, performed a reconnaissance patrol across the Naktong River to investigate North Korean forces near Chang-dong, South Korea. The patrol crossed to the west bank of the Naktong River, performed their reconnaissance, and were engaged by an enemy force of unknown strength. The patrol was still taking on heavy fire as they crossed the Naktong again to return from the mission, and only five members of the patrol ultimately made it back to friendly positions. Private First Class Harold Curtis Church joined the U.S. Army from Ohio and was a member of B Company, 3rd Engineer Combat Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. He went missing while on this patrol near Chang-dong on August 11, 1950. PFC Church was never reported to be a prisoner of war, and he remains unaccounted-for the ceasefire. Today, Private First Class Church 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, UP (1950)