35th Infantry (Cacti) Regiment Association


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  PFC James Emry Begley    In memory of our fallen brother

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother"



Fox Company
35th Infantry Regiment
Korean War


"Not For Fame or Reward
Not For Place or For Rank
But In Simple Obedience To
Duty as They Understood It"

National Defense Service Medal Korean Service Medal United Nations Korean Service Medal Republic of Korea War Service Medal



The 35th Infantry Regiment Association salutes our fallen brother, PFC James Emry Begley, US53015784, who died in the service of his country on April 25th, 1951 in South Korea. The cause of death was listed as MIA to Declared Dead. At the time of his death James was 23 years of age. He was from Mooresburg, Tennessee. James' Military Occupation Specialty was 4745-Light Weapons Infantryman.

The decorations earned by PFC James Emry Begley include: the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Korea Service Medal, and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.


Corporal Begley was a member of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. On April 25, 1951, when his company was withdrawing from line Kansas to line Delta, it was trapped by the Yongpyong River near Yongpyong, South Korea. He was listed as Missing in Action. He was presumed dead on December 31, 1953. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial. Corporal Begley was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantrymans 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.

I knew James, we were close friends and had a good time together. He had an old A Model and cut the top out, and we use to drive around Clinch mountain and he would sing, "Dont Set Under the Apple Tree With Anyone Else But Me." Then we would laugh together. I wish I would have gone with him the last time he come to my house. He left and wasnt gone anytime until he was missing. I lost a GOOD friend. He was more like a brother, I guess, to me. I wish he could be found.