Korean War
The Korean War occurred between 1950-1953. Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910. After the Japanese surrender in World War II, Korea was divided into two occupation zones at the 38th parallel. The southern portion was occupied by the United States and the northern by the Soviet Union. The UN was to supervise elections in 1948 and after the elections the country was to be re-united and self-governed. The Soviet refused to allow the UN supervisors into the north and the elections only took place in the south. After the elections the US withdrew from the south.
On 25 Jun 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea. In 1951 an armistice and peace negotiations began but little progress was made until the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. The treaty signed on 26 July 1953 made the division between the two countries permanent with a demilitarized zone in between. Approximately 37,000 Americans died during the conflict with over 92,000 wounded and 8,000 missing.
Types of Records
There are two record groups at the National Archives dealing with Korean War dead. Record Group 407 is the Records on Korean War Dead and Wounded Army Casualties, 1950-1970 (TAGOKOR). This group contains information about U.S. Army officer and soldier casualties including dead, missing, wounded and captured. The second is Record Group 330 Records of Military Personnel Who Died as a Result of Hostilities During the Korean War. RG 330 includes death by hostile means for all four service branches. An Army service person who died may be in one or both record sets. The information in the two series is slightly different.
Although the group was created from 1950-1970, it documents the period 13 Feb 1950 to 31 Dec 1953. The series has information on 27,727 Army personnel who died and 82,248 records for nonfatal Army casualties. Of those 1,593 were from Iowa. Some men are listed more than once because of multiple injuries.