Private First Class Ward was a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division. On 14 July 1953, he died from a fractured skull, when struck by a rock from an explosion in his bunker at Satae-ri, North Korea.

Ward was awarded 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.