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 returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
He is Cpl. Jimmie L. Dorser, U.S. Army, of Springfield, Mo. He will be buried tomorrow
in Lake Forest, Ca.
Representatives from the Army met with Dorser’s 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.
Dorser was a member of I Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry
Division (organized into the 31st Regimental Combat Team). The RCT was engaged against the
Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces along the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea from Nov. 27-Dec.
1, 1950. The unit was forced to retreat to the south and many men were reported missing in
action under the intense enemy fire.
In 2002, a joint U.S.-Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (D.P.R.K.) team, led
by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), excavated a mass grave on the eastern
side of the Chosin Reservoir. The remains of five individuals were recovered.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the
Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) and the Armed Forces DNA Identification
Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in Dorser’s identification. The
additional remains cannot be attributed to specific individuals at this time and will undergo
further analysis.
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.