WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Cpl. William M. Zoellick, 18, of Des Plaines, Illinois, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Feb. 22, 2022.
In late 1950, Zoellick was a member of Company B, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Nov. 30, 1950, after his company encountered a Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) roadblock near Kunu-ri, North Korea. In August 1953, a CPVF report provided to the United Nations Command stated Zoellick died on Feb. 27, 1951, at Prisoner of War Camp #1.
In September 1954, during Operation Glory, North Korea returned remains reportedly recovered from Pyoktong, also known as Prisoner of War Camp #5, to the United Nations Command. One set of remains, Unknown X-14319, could not be identified and was buried 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 September 2019, the DPAA disinterred Unknown X-14319 as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.
To identify Zoellick’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Zoellick’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, 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.
Zoellick will be buried Nov. 10, 2022 in Belvidere, Illinois.
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 fact sheet on the DPAA website at: https://www.dpaa.mil/Resources/Fact-Sheets/Article-View/Article/569610/progress-on-korean-war-personnel-accounting/
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 find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.
Zoellick’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000008GTKBEA4.