Heaton, Robert Russell
Army Corporal

Robert Russell Heaton, age 24, from Loudon County Tennessee.

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. Sergeant Robert Russell Heaton joined the U.S. Army from Tennessee and was a member of Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Engineer Combat Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. He was a member of this patrol near Chang-dong on August 11, 1950. SGT Heaton was last seen operating a radio while at an observation post at Hill 332, when he was hit by enemy rifle fire and then fell into the Naktong River. His body could not be recovered at the time because the river’s current quickly pulled it out of view. He remains unaccounted-for. Today, Sergeant Heaton 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 (1954)