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News Release

Press Release | Jan. 12, 2012

U.S. Soldier Missing From Korean War Identified (Roy)

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family with full military honors.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Charles A. Roy, 42, of Henderson, Ky., will be returned to his family on Jan. 17, for a memorial ceremony in Blue Springs, Mo. On Nov. 5, 1950, Roy was reported missing in action after his unit, Battery A, 61st Field Artillery Battalion, was overrun by Chinese forces near Pakchon, North Korea. In August 1953, several returned U.S. prisoners of war reported Roy had been captured by Chinese forces, and died in April 1951 from malnutrition and lack of medical care while in the prisoner of war camp known as “Camp 5,” near the Chinese/North Korean border.

In 1954, communist forces returned the remains of more than 3,000 U.S. servicemen who had died in POW camps, and on the battle field, in what was called “Operation Glory.” Given the technology of the times, Roy, and many other men, were not able to be identified, and their remains were buried as “unknown” in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

In 2009, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) re-examined Roy’s records and concluded that because of advances in identification technology, the remains could be exhumed and identified. Along with forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used radiograph records in the identification of the remains.

Today, more than 7,900 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the Korean War. Identifications continue to be made from the remains that were returned to the United States, using forensic and DNA technology.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site at www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.