The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Cpl. Dudley L. Evans, 24, of Greenville, Mississippi, will be buried April 23 in his hometown. In mid-February 1951, Evans was assigned to Company G, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, which was engaged in a battle against enemy forces in the vicinity of Chipyong-ni, South Korea. Evans was reported missing in action Feb. 15, 1951.
In late 1953, as part of a prisoner of war exchange, known as “Operation Big Switch,” returning U.S. soldiers told debriefers that Evans was captured by enemy forces and died in March 1951, during the march to the Suan POW Camp. His remains were not among those turned over to the U.S. by communist forces after the Armistice.
Between 1990 and 1994, North Korea returned to the United States 208 boxes of commingled human remains, which when combined with remains recovered during joint recovery operations in North Korea, included the remains of at least 600 U.S. servicemen who fought during the war. North Korean documents included in the repatriation indicated that some of the remains were recovered from the area where Evans was believed to have died.
In addition, in June 1999, a joint U.S./D.P.R.K. team recovered remains believed to belong to U.S. servicemen in the vicinity of Tare Dong Village, North Korea.
To identify Evans’ remains, scientists from the DPAA and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools, to include two forms of DNA analysis including mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome Short Tandem Repeat DNA, which matched his nephew.
Today, 7,819 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. Using modern technology, identifications continue to be made from remains that were previously returned by North Korean officials or recovered by American recovery teams.
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 call (703) 699-1420.