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News Release

Press Release | Sept. 10, 2024

Soldier Accounted for from Korean War (Vorel, C.)

Washington  –  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Private 1st Class Charles A. Vorel Jr., 19, of Omaha, Nebraska, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for April 22, 2024.

In July 1950, Vorel was a member of Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on July 16 while participating in combat actions against the North Korean People’s Army along the Kum River north of Taejon, South Korea. He was never found, nor were any remains recovered that could be identified as Vorel. He was declared non-recoverable in January 1956.

On October 6, 1950, a set of remains was recovered near the Kum River and interred at the United Nations Military Cemetery, in Taejon. Evidence strongly suggested the remains belonged to an individual who died during the evacuation of Taejon, however investigators could not make a scientific identification. Those remains were designated Unknown X-114 Taejon and were later transported with all of the unidentified Korean War remains and buried as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

In July 2018, DPAA historians and anthropologists proposed a plan to disinter and identify the 652 Korean War unknown burials from the Punchbowl. Unknown X-114 was disinterred July 1, 2019, as part of Phase 1 of the Korean War Identification Project and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory.

To identify Vorel’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.

Vorel’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monument Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, 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.

Vorel will be buried in Omaha, Nebraska, on Oct. 18, 2024.

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, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.

Vorel’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000004PGPVEA4.