Kirkpatrick, Roy Luther
Army Private

Roy Luther Kirkpatrick, age 18, from Saint Louis County Saint Louis, Missouri .

Parents: Cassa E. Kirkpatrick

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Wednesday, July 26, 1950
Death details: In late July 1950, elements of the 27th Infantry Regiment, 8th Cavalry Regiment, and other units in the 25th Infantry and 1st Cavalry Divisions were tasked with blocking a North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) advance down the Poun-Hwanggan Highway, toward Kumch’on, roughly thirty-five miles west of Taegu. On July 23 and 24, U.S. units fought a series of engagements against the advancing NKPA forces. Heavy enemy artillery fire barrages forced the U.S. units back slowly until they began to withdraw to new positions on July 26. Over the next three days, the units withdrew and consolidated in Kumch’on, though many American soldiers died, were captured, or went missing during this action.
Private First Class Roy Luther Kirkpatrick entered the U.S. Army from Missouri and served in E Company of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. He was captured on July 26, 1950, during the 8th Cavalry Regiments’ withdrawal towards Kumch’on. He was part of a group of prisoners of war (POW) who were marched north to Seoul, where his name appeared on the blackboard of an abandoned schoolhouse, but as POW’s were moved further north to escape advancing U.S. and U.N. forces, PFC Kirkpatrick’s whereabouts become unclear. There is no evidence that he entered the main Chinese prison camp system and is believed to have died during the journey northward. Attempts to locate and identify his remains have been unsuccessful. Today, Private First Class Kirkpatrick 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)