Sergeant Abney was a Light Weapons Infantryman in Company A, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy along the Chongchon River near Kunu-ri in North Korea on November 30, 1950 and died while in captivity on January 22, 1951. His remains were not recovered until 2005, and in 2016 his remains were positively identified. His name remains permanently inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.