Private First Class Ward was a member of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was seriously wounded by the enemy and taken Prisoner of War in South Korea on 4 February 1951. He died of those wounds as a prisoner on 31 July 1951. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Ward was awarded the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, 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.