Army Sgt. Homer R. Abney, missing from the Korean War, has now been accounted for.
In late November, 1950, Abney was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, when his unit was fighting units of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces in North Korea. By the early morning of Nov. 30, the road from Kunu-ri to Sunch’on was heavily fortified with a series of enemy roadblocks, later named “The Gauntlet.” The regiment sustained more casualties than any other unit during the battle, and it was following that battle that Abney was declared missing.
The CPVF and North Korean People’s Army periodically provided lists of prisoners of war during the war, but none listed Abney. Following the war, three returning American prisoners reported that Abney died at Hofong Camp in March 1951. Based on this information, the U.S. Army declared him deceased as of March 31, 1951.
In April and May 2005, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (now DPAA) and Korea People’s Army Recovery Team, conducted the 37th Joint Field Activity, visiting a site near Pukchin-Tarigol Prisoner of war camp. Possible human remains were found, but the condition of the site indicated it was a second burial site.
DNA analysis and circumstantial evidence were used in the identification of his remains.
Interment services are pending.