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The
Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today the
remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Korean War, have been
identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military
honors.
Army
Master Sgt. Francis H. Stamer of San Fernando, California, will be buried May
6, in Arlington National Cemetery. On Nov. 1, 1950, Stamer was assigned to
Company M, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, when
his unit was attacked by Chinese forces at Unsan village in North Korea. This
attack forced the unit to withdraw five miles southeast to Ipsok village.
Stamer was reported missing in action on Nov. 2, 1950. A military board later
amended his status to killed in action.
Between
1990 and 1994, North Korea turned over to the U.S. 208 boxes of human remains
believed to contain more than 400 U.S. servicemen who fought during the war.
North Korean documents, turned over with some of the boxes, indicated that
some of the remains were recovered from the area where Stamer was believed to
have died.
To
identify Stamer's remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces DNA
Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) used circumstantial evidence and forensic
identification tools, including two forms of DNA analysis; mitochondrial DNA,
which matched his niece and Y-chromosomal Short Tandem Repeat (Y-STR) DNA,
which matched his nephew.
Today,
7,852 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. Using modern
technology, identifications continue to be made from remains that were
previously turned over by North Korean officials or recovered by American
teams.
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 call 703-699-1420.
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