WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Cpl. Francis J. Rochon, 21, of Superior, Wisconsin, reported missing in action during the Korean War, was accounted for June 18, 2020.
In late 1950, Rochon was a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Sept. 1, 1950, near Changnyeong, South Korea. The Army officially declared Rochon deceased on Dec. 31, 1953, and declared his remains non-recoverable Jan. 16, 1956.
In January 1951, the American Graves Registration Service Group (AGRSG) consolidated the remains from 12 smaller military cemeteries at the newly established United Nations Military Cemetery in Tanggok, South Korea, including one set of remains designated X-175 Tanggok, which had been recovered from the area where Rochon was last seen. In 1956, the remains, including X-175 Tanggok, were unable to be identified, and then transported to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu where they were buried as Unknowns.
DPAA historians and analysts were able to determine that others buried in the same original, small cemetery as X-175 Tanggok had been lost in the same area as Rochon, and put forth his name as a possible match. The family of another Soldier lost during the same battle as Rochon also put in a request to have X-175 Tanggok and one other Unknown disinterred in hopes one of them would be their loved one. On Nov. 5, 2018, X-175 Tanggok was disinterred and sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
To identify Rochon’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Rochon’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.
Rochon will be buried July 25, 2020 in Foxboro, Wisconsin.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
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 call (703) 699-1420/1193.
Rochon’s personnel profile can be viewed at
https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000zrrIFEAY.