WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Cpl. Lester William Bauer, 20, of Frankfort, Indiana, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for March 4, 2025.
Bauer's family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In the summer of 1950, Bauer was assigned to I Company, 3rd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, Eighth U.S. Army. He was reported missing in action on July 27 near the Hadong Pass, northwest Jinju, Republic of Korea. He was not reported as a prisoner of war and his remains were not recovered after the war. With no evidence of his continued survival, the U.S. Army issued a presumptive finding of death of Dec. 31, 1953.
In October 1950, the 565th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted recovery operations in the Jinju area. Those remains were transported to the United Nations Memorial Cemetery, in Masan, South Korea, including one set, designated Unknown X-116 Masan (X-116). At the time, Unknown X-116 could not be positivity identified. In 1956, unidentified Unknowns recovered near Jinju, including X-116, were transferred to at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu and interred there as Korean War Unknowns.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl. In October 2018, DPAA personnel disinterred Unknown X-116 as part of Phase One of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Unknown X-116, DPAA scientists used dental, anthropological, and radio isotope analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis and mitochondrial genome sequencing data.
Bauer’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.
Bauer will be buried in Greenfield, Indiana on a date yet to be determined.
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 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.
Read Bauer's initial ID announcement here: Bauer.