WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Pvt. Alvin D. Thurman, 21, Broken Bow, Oklahoma, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for March 30, 2023.
In late 1951, Thurman was a member of 1st Platoon, A Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. Thurman was reported killed in action Nov. 6 after his unit’s withdrawal from Hill 200 in the present-day Korea Demilitarized Zone. The Army issued a presumptive finding of death in Nov. 28, 1951 and declared Thurman non-recoverable in Jan. 16, 1956
Following the war, the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) tasked with recovering, identifying, and repatriating deceased U.S. service members. In December 1951 the AGRS recovered a set of remains designated X-5106 Tanggok south of Hill 200. On June 27, 1955, the remains were declared unidentifiable and subsequently transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP,) known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu and interred as an Unknown.
On Nov. 5, 2018, following thorough historical and scientific analysis, X-5106 Tanggok was disinterred from the Punchbowl and sent to the laboratory for analysis.
To identify Thurman’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental, anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Thurman’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.
Thurman will be buried in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, on Oct. 21, 2023.
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.
Thurman’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000004lW5EAI.