Corporal Ivey was a Light Weapons Infantryman with Company I, 3rd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was Killed in Action while fighting the enemy in North Korea on 19 November 1951. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

For his leadership and valor, Corporal Ivey was awarded the Silver Star Medal, the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Combat Infantryman 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.