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News Release

Press Release | March 9, 2015

Soldier Missing From Korean War Accounted For (Massey)

The Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Army Pfc. Anthony Massey, Jr., 22, of Mayfield, Ky., will be buried March 14, in Mayfield, Ky. In November 1950, Massey was a member of Company C, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division (ID), when Chinese forces conducted a major offensive attack against elements of the 25th ID and Eighth U.S. Army in northwest Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. During this battle of the Chongchon River, Massey was listed as missing in action.

After the war, returning U.S. prisoners of war reported that Massey had been captured by the Chinese during that battle and died from malnutrition in 1951, in prisoner of war Camp 5, near Pyoktong, North Korea. In 1954, United Nations and Communist Forces exchanged the remains of war dead in what came to be called “Operation Glory.” All remains recovered in Operation Glory were turned over to the Army Central Identification Unit (CIU) in Kokura, Japan, for analysis. The unidentified remains were interred as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, known as the “Punchbowl.”

In 2014, with advances in technology, DPAA re-examined the records from the CIU and concluded that it was possible to identify the remains. The remains were exhumed and analyzed.

To identify Massey’s remains, scientists from the DPAA used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools, including radiographs, which matched his records.

Today, 7,853 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. Using modern technology, identifications continue to be made from remains that were previously turned over by North Korean officials or recovered by American teams.

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 or call (703) 699-1169.