Corporal Cherry was a member of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy in North Korea on November 27, 1950 and died while a prisoner on December 31, 1950. His remains were not recovered.

Through the work of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the remains of Corporal R. B. Cherry were accounted for in 2020. His name is permanently inscribed on the “Courts of the Missing” at the Honolulu Memorial.