WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Cpl. Waymon Slaten, 18, of Arab, Alabama, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Aug. 14, 2024.
Slaten’s family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In September 1950, Slaten was a member of B Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Sept. 1, 1950, after his unit engaged in combat actions with the enemy on Hill 209, west of Yongsan, South Korea. Due to intense fighting in the area, his body could not be recovered at that time. The exact circumstances of his death were unknown, and the U.S. Army issued a presumptive finding of death of December 31, 1953.
On Oct. 22, 1950, American Graves Registration Service recovered Unknown Remains X-256 from the ground surface at the base of Hill 209, approximately 11 miles west of Yongsan, where Slaten was reported missing. However, those remains could not be identified as Slaten at the time, and they were subsequently buried as an unknown in the United Nations Military Cemetery, Tanggok, South Korea. Later, in 1954, X-256 was reexamined and deemed still unidentifiable. The remains were repatriated to the United States and interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In May 2021, during phase 3 of DPAA's Korean War Disinterment Project, Unknown X-256 was disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Slaten’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph and other circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Slaten’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.
Slaten will be buried in his hometown on Jan. 13, 2025.
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 Accounting page on the DPAA website at: https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaFamWebKorean.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving their country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, https://www.linkedin.com/company/dodpaa,
https://www.instagram.com/dodpaa/, or https://x.com/dodpaa.
Slaten’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000004lkvEAA.
To view the original ID Announcement for this case, please follow this link: Slaten.