WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, accounted-for from the Korean War, are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Cpl. Morris Meshulam, 19, of Indianapolis, Indiana, accounted for on June 4, 2018, will be buried Sept. 23 in his hometown. In late November 1950, Meshulam was a member of Battery D, 82nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion (Automatic Weapons,) 2nd Infantry Division. The Division suffered heavy losses to units of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) between the towns of Kunu-ri and Sunchon, North Korea. Meshulam was reported missing in action on Dec. 1, 1950.
In February 1951, a prisoner of war returned by the CPVF reported that Meshulam died of cold weather injuries in early January 1951, but could not give a location to where Meshulam’s remains were located.
In July 1951, a Korean farmer led a U.S. Army recovery team to a grave in a field that contained the remains of a U.S. Soldier. The recovered remains were sent to the Tanggok United Nations Memorial Cemetery for possible identification. The remains, designated Unknown X-1596 were declared unidentifiable and buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In June 2016, DPAA disinterred Unknown X-1596 from the Punchbowl and sent the remains to the lab for identification.
To identify Meshulam’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, dental, anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.
DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their partnership in this mission.
Today, 7,683 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 from North Korea by American recovery teams. Meshulam’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with others who are missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
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, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1169.
Meshulam’s personnel profile can be found at https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000009cBfvEAE