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## News Release

# U.S. Soldier Missing From Korean War Identified (Gaitan)

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. Jimmie J. Gaitan, 21, of San Antonio, Texas, will be buried on Nov. 26, in hishometown. Gaitan was serving with the Clearing Company, 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd InfantryDivision, when he was reported missing in action in Feb. 1951, near Hoengsong, South Korea.The 2nd Infantry Division had been fighting to block Chinese advances in the area when Gaitanwas captured. Gaitan, and other prisoners, were forced to march north in stages, covering over300 miles before reaching Changsong on the south bank of the Yalu River in North Korea.

Following the end of the Korean War, it was reported that Gaitan, along with more than400 other servicemen had died in the Changsong prisoner of war camps. Interviews with returnedprisoners of war confirmed that Gaitan had died of malnutrition in Camp 1 near Changsong, inlate May, 1951. In the fall of 1954, during Operation Glory, China turned over remains theyclaimed to be those of U.S. servicemen who died in the Korean War. At the time the Army wasunable to identify Gaitan and the remains were buried as "unknown" at the National MemorialCemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

In 2011, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) re-examined the records andconcluded that because of advances in identification technology, the remains could be exhumedand identified. Scientists from the JPAC were able to analyze the remains and identified Gaitan.

Along with forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from theJPAC used dental records and radiography in the identification of Gaitan’s remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missingAmericans, visit the DPMO web site at www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1420.

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