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News & Stories
News | July 14, 2016

Soldier Missing From Korean War Accounted For (Curtis)

Army Sgt. Harold L. Curtis, 18, killed in the Korean War, has now been accounted for.

In late November, 1950, Curtis was a member of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea, when the Chinese People's Volunteer Forces (CPVF) attacked the regiment and forced the unit to withdraw south to the Pungnyuri Inlet. Many soldiers became surrounded and attempted to escape and evade the enemy, but were captured and marched to POW camps. Curtis was declared missing in action as a result of the battle that occurred Dec. 12, 1950.

In 1953, during the prisoner of war exchange historically known as “Operation Big Switch,” one repatriated American soldier reported that Curtis died in the vicinity of the Chosin Reservoir in December 1950.

Between 1990 and 1994, North Korea returned to the United States 208 boxes of commingled human remains, some of which were recovered in the vicinity of where Curtiswas believed to have died.

Lab analysis, in conjunction with the totality of circumstantial evidence evailable, established Sgt. Curtis' remains were among those returned to the United States.

Interment services are pending.

Welcome home and rest in peace, Sgt. Curtis.

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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