Ernesto Jose Cordero, age 32, from Dawson County Lexington, Nebraska .
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Friday, September 1, 1950
Death details: In late July of 1950, reinforcements from the U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division arrived in Pusan, South Korea, and within hours of their arrival were already being moved to the front lines along the Pusan Perimeter to help repel the invading North Korean People’s Army (NKPA). Troops were positioned along the eastern bank of the Naktong River, which was shallow enough to be crossed on foot in several places. On August 31, members of the 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, were defending the eastern shore of the Naktong, near the town of Yongsan, when at nightfall the NKPA advanced over the Naktong and began an offensive against American positions along the river. Heavy fighting broke out, and many of the 9th Infantry Regiment’s positions were overrun. Sergeant Ernesto Jose Cordero, who joined the U.S. Army from Nebraska, was a member of F Company of the 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. His unit was defending positions along on the Naktong on the night of August 31, 1950, and happened to be along the main axis of the NKPA’s attack. The men of F Company put up a fierce defense, but were overwhelmed by the early morning on September 1, with survivors falling back to defensive lines in rear or holding portions of the line that the enemy had bypassed. Sergeant Cordero went missing at some point during the fighting between August 31 and September 1. He was never seen in enemy custody as a prisoner of war, and attempts to locate him or his remains following the end of hostilities were unsuccessful. Today, Sergeant Cordero 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, Custer County Chief
