New York National Guard Renders Honors to Korean War MIA Soldier Monday, September 20 in Schuylerville

Media Advisory

Latham, NY (09/20/2021) — A New York Army National Guard Honor Guard will render funeral honors to Korean War Veteran Cpl. Walter Smead as he is laid to rest at Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery in Schuylerville, N.Y. Monday, September 20.

WHO: Members of the New York Military Forces Honor Guard join the family of Cpl. Walter Smead.

WHAT: Final military honors for the funeral service of Korean War Soldier Cpl. Walter Smead. New York National Guard Soldiers will present an American flag to members of the Soldier's family. Smead's remains return more than 70 years after the December 1950 Battle of Chosin Reservoir in which he was killed.

WHEN: 2 p.m., Monday, September 20, 2021.

WHERE: Burial with full military honors at Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery, 200 Duell Road, Schuylerville.

Media Opportunity:

Imagery of full military honors for the burial of Korean War missing Soldier Cpl. Walter Smead, including the firing of honors, playing of Taps, and the presentation of the folded American flag to the family.

The burial is the second this year of a Korean War Soldier missing in action from the Battle of Chosin. In May 2021, Army Cpl. Clifford Johnson, of Valatie, N.Y. and a fellow Soldier for Smead in the 57th Artillery Battalion, was laid to rest with honors at Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery.

Army Cpl. Walter Smead

Walter Smead, who grew up in Hadley, N.Y. in Saratoga County, had already served in Europe during World War II when we was mobilized for service again in Korea.

In late 1950, Smead, 24, was a member of Battery A, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division. 7th Infantry Division, part of the 2,500 U.S. and 700 South Korean soldiers belonging to the 31st Regimental Combat Team in November 1950.

During United Nations efforts to unify the Korean Peninsula by driving the North Korean People's Army north near the Yalu River in the fall of 1950, Smead and the 31st Regimental Combat Team occupied the east side of the Chosin Reservoir. The mission of the force was to to secure the flanks of the advancing 7th and 5th Marine Corps Regiments and the main supply route before attacking north toward the Manchurian border.

The 30,000 United Nations troops were soon encircled and attacked by approximately 120,000 Chinese Peoples Volunteer Forces who attacked United Nations' forces along the Yalu in the in what is called the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, between November 27 and December 13, 1950.

After an initial defensive fight, Smead fought with the remnants of the 31st Regimental Combat Team, known as Task Force Faith for its commander, Lt. Col. Don Faith, the commander of the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, who led the force after the 31st Regimental Combat Team commander was killed in action.

The task force fought off attacks of the Chinese 80th and 81st divisions before breaking out from its defensive positions December 1.

Smead was reported missing in action on Dec. 6, 1950, after his unit was attacked by enemy forces as they attempted to withdraw to friendly lines at the southern end of the Chosin Reservoir.

The 57th Field Artillery Battalion Headquarters listed Smead as missing in action on December 6, 1950. Rapid movements and sustained combat at the Chosin Reservoir during the subsequent breakout to the coast prohibited Soldiers' abilities to act as witnesses to the disappearances or deaths of their comrades.

Of the 1,777 American Soldiers with the 31st Regimental Combat Team during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, 1,392 wound up missing in action, unrecovered killed or prisoners of war, by December 12, 1950.

Lt. Col. Faith received the Medal of Honor, posthumously, for his leadership of the task force at Chosin. An additional ten Soldiers of the task force received the Distinguished Service Cross, three posthumously, for their valor in the battle.

Smead's name did not appear on any prisoner of war lists, and no returning prisoners of war reported that he had been captured.

He was presumed dead in 1953.

The government of North Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, following the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in June 2018, released additional remains to the U.S. government on July 27, 2018.

On August 1, 2018, 55 boxes of remains arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Laboratory for scientific analysis and possible identification. Those boxes have provided identification of the remains of 76 Soldiers.

To identify Johnson's remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA analysis collected in 2003 from Smead's youngerst brother, Douglas Smead, 84, a resident of Corinth, N.Y. who kept up the family search for answers.

His remains were confirmed on March 16, 2021, with the family notified on March 17.

Smead's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing in Honolulu, along with the others who are missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Today, 7,556 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

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