The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, Have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Pfc. James C. Mullins, 20, of Dunham, Ky., will be buried on Nov. 2, near Fort Bragg, N.C. On July 22, 1950, Mullins and his unit, H Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, battled enemy forces near Yugong-ni, South Korea. After the battle, Mullins was listed as missing in action.
In 1951, remains of nine unidentified U.S. service members, from the battlefield near Yugong-ni, were buried as “unknown” in Pusan Cemetery. Later that year, the U.S. consolidated cemeteries on the Korean peninsula. The unknown remains were re-interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii—the “Punchbowl.”
In 2012, due to advances in identification technology, analysts from DPMO and JPAC reevaluated the information associated with the remains interred in Hawaii and concluded that if exhumed they could likely be identified. Based on available evidence such as metal identification tags, military clothing, and wartime records, analysts confirmed that the remains were a soldier who died at Yugong-ni.
To determine Mullins identification, scientists from JPAC used the circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools including radiograph and dental comparisons.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.
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