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 The
Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that
the remains of a U.S. soldier, missing from the Korean War, have been
identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military
honors.
Army
Cpl. Francis D. Knobel of La Crosse, Wisconsin, will be buried May 21, in
Arlington National Cemetery. In December 1950, Knobel was a member of
Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry
Division, operating along the eastern side of the Chosin Reservoir in North
Korea. On Dec. 12, 1950, following the battle, Knobel was one of many men
reported missing in action.
From
Aug. 31 to Nov. 9, 1954, the United Nations and communist forces exchanged
war dead, commonly known as Operation Glory. As part of the exchange,
communist forces turned over 25 boxes of remains that were believed to be
American servicemen who were recovered near where Knobel was lost. The
remains were transferred to the U.S. Army's Central Identification Unit (CIU)
in Kokura, Japan, for analysis. From the 25 boxes transferred to the CIU, 17
servicemen were identified; one box was believed to contain a Korean
national, and the last seven boxes of remains could not be identified. When
all attempts to associate the unidentified remains to American servicemen
were unsuccessful, a military review board declared the remains to be
unidentifiable and the remains were transferred to the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific, commonly known as the Punchbowl.
In
2014, with advances in technology, the Department of Defense re-examined
records from the CIU and concluded it was possible to identify the remains.
The remains were exhumed and analyzed.
To
identify Knobel's remains, scientists from DoD and the Armed Forces DNA
Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) used circumstantial evidence, radiographs,
and dental comparison.
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 from North
Korea by American recovery 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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