WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class James L. Dorrance, 20 of Omaha, Nebraska, who died as a prisoner of war during the Korean War, was accounted for May 22, 2023.
In late 1950, Dorrance was a member of B Battery, 82nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery–Automatic Weapons Battalion, Division Artillery, 2nd Infantry Division, Eighth U.S. Army. He was reported missing in action on Dec. 1, 1950, after his unit’s withdrawal from Kunu-ri to Sunchon, in North Korea. In 1953, several POWs returned during Operation Big Switch reported Dorrance had been a prisoner of war and died on March 17, 1951 at Prisoner of War Camp #5, Pyoktong, North Korea.
In the fall of 1954, during Operation Glory, North Korea returned remains reportedly recovered from Camp #5, to the United Nations Command. However, Dorrance’s name did not appear on any of the transfer rosters and the Central Identification Unit in Kokura, Japan, did not associate any repatriated remains with him.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In September 2019, the DPAA disinterred Unknown X-14402, a set of remains returned during Operation Glory, as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Dorrance’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis as well as chest radiograph comparison. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Dorrance’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Dorrance will be buried in Omaha, Nebraska, on a date 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. DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission and the United States Army for their partnership in this mission.
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.
Dorrance’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000004rdKEAQ.