WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Sgt. Richard M. Sharrow, 22, of Marienville, Pennsylvania, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Jan. 24, 2023.
In July 1950, Sharrow was a member of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Eighth U.S. Army. He was reported missing in action on July 25 after his unit sustained heavy casualties while defending against the North Korean Army’s advance near Yongdong, South Korea. Following the battle, his remains could not be recovered, and there is no evidence that he was ever a prisoner of war. The Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953, and his remains were determined non-recoverable in Jan. 16, 1956.
The U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps (AGRSG) was responsible for recovering, identifying, and repatriating those lost during the Korean War. In the spring of 1951, they recovered a set of remains designated as Unknown X-1023 near Yongdong. After extensive analysis by the Central Identification Unit-Kokura in Japan was unable to identify X-1023 the remains were declared unidentifiable. In April 1955, the remains were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, with other Korean War Unknowns.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. On Oct. 21, 2019, the DPAA disinterred X-1023, as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Sharrow’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis as well as chest radiograph comparison. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Sharrow’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.
Sharrow will be buried in Marienville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 25, 2023
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.
Sharrow’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000cdVpEAI.