Boggs, Bish
Army Sergeant
Bish Boggs, age 38, from Laurel County Keavy, Kentucky .
Parents: Maudie Boggs
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Saturday, July 29, 1950
Death details: On July 28, 1950, members of the 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, were in defensive positions near Kochang, South Korea, west of the Naktong River. They served as part of a defensive formation soon to be known as the Pusan Perimeter, meant to delay the North Korean People’s Army’s (NKPA) advance through South Korea long enough so that reinforcements could arrive at Pusan Harbor. That night, members of the 34th Infantry reported seeing a procession of enemy tanks and infantry assemble behind a roadblock west of Kochang. The next morning, this NKPA force attacked the 34th Infantry positions from two directions. Continuous enemy fire eventually forced the regiment to withdraw to the east; however, Company I was cut off by the NKPA. A counterattack was successful in rescuing all but one platoon from Company I, though many men were killed or went missing during these actions. Sergeant First Class Bish Boggs entered the U.S. Army from Kentucky and was a member of I Company, 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He went missing in action during the fighting on July 29, though the exact circumstances surrounding his loss are unknown. He was never reported to be a prisoner of war, and his remains were not recovered following the war. Today, Sergeant First Class Boggs 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, Corbin Times Tribune (1950)