Sergeant First Class Boyce was a member of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy near Chochiwon, South Korea on July 11, 1950. He was presumed dead on December 31, 1953. His remains were not recovered at the time. Through the work of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the remains of Sgt. 1st Class James L. Boyce were accounted for in 2018. His name is permanently inscribed in the “Courts of the Missing” at the Honolulu Memorial.