Last to die: final KIAs of the Korean War: the following American servicemen have the dubious distinction of being the last killed as a result of hostile action in Korea on or near July 27, 1953. They deserve to be remembered on this 50th anniversary of the war's end

VFW Magazine, June-July, 2003 by Richard K. Kolb

During the Korean War, 108 Navy corpsmen were killed in action while serving with Marines on the ground. Among the last was Hospitalman Billy Doyle Smith, killed in action on July 18, 1953. Born in St. Joseph, Mo., Smith was 20 when he died.

The next day, Hospitalman Deane W. Noringseth of Sparta, Wis., was originally listed as MIA but quickly confirmed KIA. He had volunteered for duty on Outpost East Berlin--making him the only corpsman for his unit--after the Marines sustained extremely heavy casualties there.

Though North Korean shore batteries hit 18 U.S. Navy ships causing 89 casualties after October 1952, (the USS Irwin counted five wounded as late as July 8, 1953), none seem to have had any KIA.

The USS Lewis, however, lost seven men to enemy shore fire Oct. 21, 1952. Some 81 shells straddled the destroyer escort while it was protecting South Korean minesweepers in Wonsan Harbor.

Two 75mm shells hit the ship, the first piercing a boiler in the forward fire room. Six men--Richard Brower, James Crossman, Raymond Remers, George Schofield, David Schmidt and Floyd Sneed--were killed immediately.

A seventh sailor from Marion, Ore., Boiler Tech. 3rd Class Arnold W. Karlin, died of burns at 12:42 a.m. "The men were scalded to death by high pressure steam from the unexploded shell, which hit the main steam line and then the boiler," remembered shipmate Ken Mathews.

For the families of all the last to die, the war in Korea has especially poignant memories. Fifty years later, they must contend with the notion that their loved ones perished in a war largely forsaken by the American public.

Nonetheless, all of these servicemen--like the other 36,568 Americans who gave their lives so South Korea could be free--did not die in vain. That nation today remains a bulwark of representative government and free enterprise in East Asia. For this alone, all Korean War vets have a right to be proud.