Sergeant Barksdale was a member of Battery B, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy near Kunu-ri, North Korea on December 1, 1950. He was presumed dead on December 31, 1953. His name is permanently inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial. SGT Barksdale's remains were recovered and identified.