WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Cpl. George T. Hill, 18, of Los Angeles, who was killed during the Korean War, was accounted for July 9, 2025.
Hill’s family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In the summer of 1950, Hill was a member of Company B, 3rd Engineer Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Aug. 11 in the vicinity of Chang-dong, South Korea, near the Naktong River. He was not reported as a prisoner of war and subsequent searches of the battlefield failed to recover his remains. With no evidence of his continued survival, the Army issued a presumptive finding of death as of Dec. 31, 1953. He was declared non-recoverable on Jan. 16, 1956.
On Dec. 18, 1951, two sets of remains, designated Unknown X-5115 and X-5116 Tanggok, were recovered from the Naktong Bulge area of the Pusan Perimeter. At the time, the remains could not be associated with Hill and were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl. In July 2021, DPAA personnel disinterred Unknown X-5115 and X-5116 as part of Phase Three of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Hill’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental, anthropological, and radio isotope analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA and mitochondrial genome sequencing analysis.
Hill’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s 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.
Hill will be buried on July 15, 2026, in San Bruno, California.
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.
DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission and the United States Army for their partnership in this mission.
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 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.
Hill’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000niX6EEAU.
Hill’s initial ID announcement can be viewed at https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/ID-Announcements/Article/4258093/soldier-accounted-for-from-korean-war-hill-g/.