WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Cpl. Marvin S. Patton, 20, of Cedar Bluff, Virginia, who was killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Aug. 1, 2025.
Patton's family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In the summer of 1950, Patton was a member of Company B, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on July 5, in the vicinity of Osan, South Korea, where his unit was deployed to assist in halting the Korean People’s Army advancement into South Korea. The U.S. Army issued a presumptive finding of death for Patton on Jan. 16, 1956.
In June 1951, the American Graves Registration Service Group recovered a set of remains, later designated Unknown X-1401 Tanggok, from a shallow grave less than 3 miles north of Osan. At the time, the remains could not be positively identified and were declared unidentifiable. In 1956, they were interred as an Unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter all 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl. In November 2019, DPAA personnel disinterred Unknown X-1401 Tanggok as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Patton’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental, anthropological and radio isotope analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis and mitochondrial genome sequencing data.
Patton’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.
Patton was buried in Dublin, Virginia, on March 9, 2026.
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.
Patton’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000ATCgFEAX.
Read Patton’s initial ID announcement at: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/4281721/soldier-accounted-for-from-korean-war-patton-m/.