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News Release

Press Release | April 27, 2011

Soldiers Missing From Korean War Identified (Stroup, Saunders, Miljus)

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of three U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are Cpl. James R. Stroup, of St. Louis, Mo.; 1st Lt. Jack J. Saunders, of Ogden, Utah; and Sgt. Brunko R. Miljus, of Portland, Ore. All men were U.S. Army and will be buried April 30, 2011. Stroup will be buried in St. Louis, Mo., Saunders in Clearfield, Utah, and Miljus in Portland, Ore.

Representatives from the Army’s Mortuary Office met with the soldiers’ next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

These soldiers were assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea. On Feb. 12, 1951, their Division came under attack near Hoengsong and was forced to withdraw to a more defensible position. Following the battle, Stroup, Saunders and Miljus were reported missing in action.

All three soldiers were captured, held at Suan POW Camp and died while in captivity.

Between 1991 and 1994, North Korea gave the United States 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200-400 U.S. servicemen. North Korean documents turned over with some of the boxes indicated that human remains were recovered from North Hwanghae Province. This area correlates to the approximate location of two major North Korean POW camps - Suan Bean Camp and Suan Mining Camp.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA – which matched that of some of the soldier’s families – as well as dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

With this accounting 7,997 service members still remain missing from the conflict.

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