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News Release

Press Release | Nov. 4, 2019

Soldier Accounted For From Korean War (Knight, H.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Pfc. Harold K. Knight, 20, of Erie, Pennsylvania, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Sept. 3, 2019.

(This identification was initially published Sept. 5, 2019.)

In late November 1950, Knight was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 31st Infantry Regiment, 31st Regimental Combat Team. For several days, his unit was engaged in intense fighting with the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces at Sinhung-ri, near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. The RCT endured repeated attacks before withdrawing Dec. 1, 1950. When the unit leaders conducted a muster of returning personnel, Knight was not among the group. Witness accounts stated that Knight was killed in action Nov. 25, 1950. His remains could not be recovered.

On July 27, 2018, following the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in June 2018, North Korea turned over 55 boxes, purported to contain the remains of American service members killed during the Korean War. The remains arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on Aug. 1, 2018, and were subsequently accessioned into the DPAA laboratory for identification.

To identify Knight’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.

Today, 7,606 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. Using modern technology, identifications continue to be made from remains that were previously returned by Korean officials, recovered from Korea by American recovery teams or disinterred from unknown graves. Knight’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others who are missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

For family information, contact the Army Casualty office at (800) 892-2490.

Knight is tentatively scheduled to be buried in the spring or summer of 2020 in Pennsylvania. For future funeral information, visit www.dpaa.mil.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1169.

Knight’s personnel profile can be viewed at
https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000012j8DEAQ