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Press Release | May 2, 2022

Soldier Accounted For From Korean War (Sharp, W.)

WASHINGTON  –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Pfc. Chauncey (William) J. Sharp, 18, of Osborn, Ohio, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Dec. 22, 2020.

In July 1950, Sharp was a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was reported killed in action on July 24 after his unit sustained heavy casualties while defending against the North Korean army’s advance near Hwanggon, South Korea. His body was not recovered because his unit was forced to retreat, nor were any remains found that could be identified as Sharp. He was declared non-recoverable in January 1956.

A graves registration team from Sharp’s unit investigated the area where he was lost on Oct. 12, 1950, and found several sets of remains, including one later designated Unknown X-8 Taejon. However, X-8 could not be identified despite several attempts over the next four years. 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 March 2017, after extensive research into casualties from the Hwanggon area, DPAA historians and anthropologists requested Unknown X-8 be disinterred in order to undergo DNA analysis. X-8 was disinterred Aug. 17, 2017, and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.

To identify Sharp’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Sharp’s 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.

Sharp will be buried May 21, 2022, in Dayton, Ohio.

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.

Sharp’s personnel profile can be viewed at
https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000ykzxlEAA.

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Public Affairs Contact Information


Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency PAO
Washington, D.C.
2300 Defense Pentagon
Attn: Outreach and Communications
Washington, D.C. 20301-2300
Email: dpaa.ncr.oc.mbx.public-affairs@mail.mil