Cirildo Valencio – Master Sergeant, United States Army

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Cirildo Valencio
Dimmit, Texas
Born 1926
Master Sergeant, U.S. Army
Service Number 38704365
Killed in Action
Died November 2, 1950 in Korea

Master Sergeant Valencio was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. He was Killed in Action while fighting the enemy near Unsan, North Korea on November 2, 1950. His remains were not recovered.

For his leadership and valor, Master Sergeant Valencio was awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.

Eduardo Tabarez wrote on 2002-06-25:

Comments: My uncle MSG Cirildo Valencia was killed in action in Korea, November 1950, a month after I was born. My mother, his sister, passed away last year and she always talked about her younger brother and I know she missed an awful lot since that’s the only brother she had. If anyone has information about my uncle please share it with me since he had a son who is living in New Jersey, but we have lost contact.

In military records he is listed as Cirildo Valencio, but the correct spelling is Valecia.

Thanks and I will greatly appreciate any or all information who anyone can furnish which I will share it with my cousin. My uncle was born and raised in Carrizo Springs, TX (Dimmitt County).

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 630-08

Soldier Missing in Action from Korean War is Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Master Sergeant Cirildo Valencio, U.S. Army, of Carrizo Springs, Texas. He will be buried on August 4, 2008, in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

Representatives from the Army met with Valencio’s next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

Valencio was assigned to Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division then occupying a defensive position near Unsan, North Korea in an area known as the “Camel’s Head.” On November 1, 1950, parts of two Chinese Communist Forces divisions struck the 1st Cavalry Division’s lines, collapsing the perimeter and forcing a withdrawal. In the process, the 3rd Battalion was surrounded and effectively ceased to exist as a fighting unit. Valencio was one of the more than 350 servicemen unaccounted-for from the battle at Unsan.

In 2002, a joint U.S.-Democratic People’s Republic of Korea team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), excavated a burial site south of Unsan near the nose of the “Camel’s Head” formed by the joining of the Nammyon and Kuryong rivers. The team recovered human remains.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1420 or (703) 509-1905.

VALENCIO, CIRILDO
MSGT   US ARMY
KOREA
DATE OF BIRTH: 07/09/1926
DATE OF DEATH: 11/02/1950
BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 8281
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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