TIM MAGUIRE

1959

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.

On June 27, 1950, President Harry S. Truman announced he is
ordering U.S. air and naval forces to South Korea to aid the
democratic nation in repulsing an invasion by communist
North Korea.

In addition to ordering U.S. forces to Korea, Truman also deployed
the U.S. 7th Fleet to Formosa (Taiwan) to guard against invasion
by communist China and ordered an acceleration of military aid
to French forces fighting communist guerrillas in Vietnam.

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

        
TIM MAGUIRE
              

On June 25, 1950, armed forces from communist North Korea
smashed into South Korea, setting off the Korean War.

The United States, acting under the auspices of the United
Nations, quickly sprang to the defense of South Korea and
fought a bloody and frustrating war for the next three years.

TIM MAGUIRE