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News Release

Press Release | April 22, 2021

Soldier Accounted For From Korean War (Daniels, B.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Pfc. Bobbie Ray Daniels, 17, of Bedford, Virginia, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Sept. 21, 2020.

In August 1950, Daniels was a member of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. He was reported missing in action on Aug. 16 during battle near Waegwan, South Korea. His remains could not be immediately recovered. He was officially declared dead on May 1, 1953.

During a search of Korean War battlefields in February 1951, a partial set of remains was recovered from the area where Daniels went missing. After a preliminary examination at Tanggok United Nations Military Cemetery, an identification could not be made and the remains were buried as Unknown X-412 Tanggok. In March 1951, another partial set of remains was found in the same area. After an identification could not be made, the remains were buried as Unknown X-817 Tanggok. Further attempts were made to identify both sets of remains, but were unsuccessful. The remains were later transported with all of the unidentified Korean War remains and buried as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In 2017, the family of an unresolved Soldier associated with the same area where Daniels went missing requested both X-412 and X-817 be disinterred for comparison with their Soldier. Further research by a DPAA historian and forensic anthropologist determined both sets of remains could possibly be associated with Daniels, among others. X-412 and X-817 were disinterred Aug. 20, 2018, and sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor/Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.

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

Daniels’ name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Daniels will be buried May 22, 2021, in his hometown.

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

To see the most up-to-date statistics on DPAA recovery efforts for those unaccounted for from the Korean War, go to the Korean War fact sheet on the DPAA website at:
https://www.dpaa.mil/Resources/Fact-Sheets/Article-View/Article/569610/progress-on-korean-war-personnel-accounting/.

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 https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.

Daniels’ personnel profile can be viewed at
https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000004nKbEAI.