Kenneth R. Shadrick (August 4, 1931 – July 5, 1950) was a United States Army soldier who was killed at the onset of the Korean War.

During a patrol, Shadrick was killed by the machine gun of a North Korean T-34 tank, and his body was taken to an outpost where journalist Marguerite Higgins was covering the war.

Growing up during the Great Depression, Kenneth Shadrick moved with his family to Wyoming, West Virginia, then to an outlying town called Skin Fork, 20 miles (32 km) away, as his father was looking for coal mining jobs.

The team could not afford uniforms, and Shadrick's father gave him five dollars to buy one, but it was stolen from his locker in October 1948.

[4] According to his family, Shadrick enjoyed his tour in Japan at first, but by June 1950 he was growing tired of the country, and indicated in letters he was feeling depressed.

[8] U.S. forces in the Far East had been steadily decreasing since the end of World War II, five years earlier, and Shadrick's division was the closest to the warzone.

Under the command of Major General William F. Dean, the division was understrength and most of its equipment was antiquated due to reductions in military spending.

In spite of these deficiencies the division was ordered into South Korea, tasked with taking the initial shock of the North Korean advances until the rest of the Eighth United States Army could arrive and establish a defense.

[11] During that time, the 34th Infantry Regiment set up a line between the villages of Pyongtaek and Ansong, 10 miles (16 km) south of Osan, to fight the next delaying action against the advancing North Korean forces.

[14] Shadrick's family was informed of his death by a neighbor who had heard his name on a radio broadcast, and the news from the military came via telegraph several days later.

[1] Shadrick's body was returned to the United States, and on June 17, 1951, a funeral attended by hundreds of local residents was held in Beckley, West Virginia.

[1] Life magazine reported Shadrick for up to a year as the first US soldier to die in the war,[17] and the claim has often been repeated,[19] including as recently as July 4, 2011, in the local newspaper in Huntington, West Virginia, The Herald-Dispatch.

The monument cites Shadrick's unit, date of death, and notes him as the "first casualty of the Korean conflict" with an epitaph that reads, "He stands first in the unbroken line of patriots who have dared to die that freedom might live, grow and increase its blessings.

This soldier was killed when a different T-34 tank was disabled at the battle and one of its crew members attacked nearby troops with a PPSh-41 "Burp Gun".