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News Release

Press Release | April 5, 2023

Soldier Accounted For From Korean War (Coon, E.)

WASHINGTON  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Ellis Coon, 30, Mount Herman, Louisiana, who died as a prisoner of war during the Korean War, was accounted for Sept. 27, 2022.

In late 1950, Coon was a member of C Battery, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Dec. 1, 1950, after his unit was engaged in the

Battle of Ch’ongch’on, in the vicinity of Kunu-ri, North Korea. Using information provided by repatriated POWs after the war, it was determined that Coon had been a Prisoner of War in Camp #5 and died of malnutrition and lack of medical care on or around Feb. 14, 1951. The Army issued a presumptive finding of death in March 1954 and declared Coon non-recoverable in January 1956.

On Dec. 21, 1993, North Korea unilaterally turned over 34 boxes of remains believed to be of U.S. service members who had died during the war. Among these remains were some reportedly recovered from Tongju-ri, Pyokdong County, North Phyongan Province—the same area as POW Camp #5. Scientific analysis by the DPAA Laboratory found that the five boxes of remains recovered from Tongu-ri contained commingled skeletal remains of several individuals.

To identify Coon’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.

Coon’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific also known as the Punchbowl Cemetery, 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.

Coon’s burial date and location has 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 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 our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.

Coon’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000008XqlCEAS.