Master Sergeant King was a member of the 1st Airborne Ranger Company, 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy in South Korea on January 12, 1951 and was killed by a guard on 31 January 1951. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

King was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Prisoner of War Medal, 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.