Private First Class Ball was a member of Company M, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy near Chochiwon, South Korea, on 12 July 1950. He was presumed dead on 31 December 1953. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Ball was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman's 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.