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Defense POW/MIA Accounting AgencyFulfilling Our Nation's Promise

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## News Release

# Soldier Missing From Korean War Identified (Lavelle)

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office 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. John G. Lavelle, 24, of Brooklyn, N.Y., will be buried Aug 1 in Calverton, N.Y.On Dec. 1, 1950, he was assigned to the 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Divisionwhen his unit was overrun by enemy forces near Kunu-ri, North Korea. Lavelle was reportedmissing in action. Surviving POWs said he had been captured by enemy forces and died ofmalnutrition in captivity in the spring of 1951.

During Operation Glory in the fall of 1954, China turned over remains they claimed to bethose of U.S. servicemen who died in the Korean War. Records returned with the remainsindicated one of the servicemen died in Prisoner of War Camp 5 at Pyoktong, on the China-NorthKorea border. At the time the Army was unable to identify Lavelle and the remains were buriedas “unknown” the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

In 2010, scientists at Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) concluded they hadevidence that supported identification of the Unknown Soldier who died in Camp 5. The remainswere exhumed in March 2011 and scientists from the JPAC identified Lavelle’s remains throughdental comparisons and circumstantial evidence related to the 1954 turnovers.

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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