Korean War US War Dead Classified as 'Unrecoverable' Identified After 72 Years

Missing after deployment to Korea at age 27 on June 25, 1950
Identified through analysis of war dead remains, to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery

U.S. Army Corporal Tommy T. Hanks, a fallen soldier who participated in the Korean War. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] The remains of a U.S. soldier who was deployed at the age of 27 during the Korean War and went missing have been identified after 72 years. He is scheduled to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

On the 12th (local time), according to The Washington Post (WP), the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) recently identified the remains of Corporal Tommy T. Hanks from Fort Worth, Texas, during an analysis of war casualties.

Corporal Hanks was assigned to Company E, 2nd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, Eighth U.S. Army. He was deployed to Korea at the age of 27 when the Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950. He went missing on November 26 of the same year while his unit was retreating after being attacked by enemy forces near Anju, in the Cheongcheon River area of North Korea.

Even after the battle ended, Corporal Hanks' body was not found, and the U.S. military eventually classified him as unrecoverable on January 16, 1956, three years after the armistice was signed.

Corporal Hanks' remains were among 55 sets of U.S. war dead handed over by North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un to U.S. President Donald Trump on July 27, 2018. Subsequently, the U.S. military confirmed his identity through DNA analysis and other procedures conducted at the DPAA facility in Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Oahu Island, Hawaii.

Currently, Corporal Hanks is listed on the Missing in Action memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, and a rose ribbon marker indicating that his remains have been identified will soon be placed next to his name. WP reported that he will then be interred at Arlington National Cemetery, where hundreds of thousands of veterans rest.

According to WP, approximately 33,000 U.S. soldiers died and more than 7,500 remain missing from the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953 following World War II. The DPAA continues its efforts to identify remains, but faces difficulties as many remains are commingled.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.