[3] Noel volunteered to cover the Korean War and accompanied the 7th Regiment of the 1st Marine Division.

On his way to Chosin Reservoir, he was trapped with a Marine unit under the command of Major John N. McLaughlin, but they fought their way free.

Two months later, on November 29, 1950, after a convoy was trapped near the reservoir, he went for help in a jeep but was intercepted and captured by the enemy.

He unsuccessfully attempted to escape three times, once only failing because he would not leave behind an ill fellow prisoner.

He died at age 61 at the J. Hillis Miller Health Science Center in Gainesville, Florida following brain surgery, where he had been hospitalized two months earlier due to a stroke.