Near Sojong, South Korea, Private Kenneth Shadrick, a 19-
year-old infantryman from Skin Fork, West Virginia, became
the first American reported killed in the Korean War.

Shadrick, a member of a bazooka squad, had just fired the
weapon at a Soviet-made tank when he looked up to check
his aim and was cut down by enemy machine-gun fire.

The total U.S. dead in the Korean War numbers 36,516.