Korean War soldier accounted for 74 years later
A 21-year-old soldier from southern Illinois was recently accounted for after getting killed during the Korean War.
By Mike Mohundro
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Illinois (WSIL) — A 21-year-old soldier from southern Illinois was recently accounted for after killed during the Korean War.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on Thursday that U.S. Army Pvt. 1st Class Bryan Myers Jr., 21 of Cobden, Illinois, was accounted for on February 27, 2024, after he was killed during the Korean War more than 70 years ago.
The DPAA stated Myers was a member of Company H, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, during the Korean War in September of 1950. He was said to have been killed in action while he and his unit were defending the Pusan Perimeter in South Korea.
Myers’ remains were never accounted for at the time, during or after the war, and the exact circumstances of his death were unknown.
Later in 1950, the remains of an American soldier were recovered from a foxhole on the east side of Mt. Chulmol in South Korea, the DPAA stated.
While investigators believe the death occurred in the early part of September, the remains were not identified at the time and designated as Unknown X173 Masan. They were initially interred in the United Nations Military Cemetery Masan before taken to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) in Honolulu, Hawaii, according to information shared by the DPAA.
Decades later, in March 2019, the remains were reportedly exhumed for scientific analysis.
To identify Myers’ remains, scientists from DPAA used chest radiograph and other circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Pfc Myers’s name is recorded on the 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, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency stated in a release.
Pfc Myers will be buried in Elmwood, Illinois, at a later date.
If you are a family or friend, you may contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
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