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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 (MacLean)

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced todaythat 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 Cpl. Donald V. MacLean, 17, of Dover, Ohio, will be buried Aug. 31, in Cary, Ill.In late Nov. 1950, MacLean and elements of the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT),historically known as Task Force Faith, were deployed along the east side of the Chosin Reservoirnear the P’ungnyuri Inlet, in North Korea, when the RCT was attacked by a large number ofChinese forces. On Dec. 1, 1950, remnants of the 31st RCT began a fighting withdrawal to amore defensible position near Hagaru-ri, south of the reservoir. On Dec. 2, 1950, during thewithdrawal, MacLean was reported missing.

In 1954, United Nations forces and Communist forces exchanged the remains of war dead,in what came to be known as “Operation Glory.” Among those remains turned over by enemyforces was a box which allegedly contained the remains of a U.S. serviceman who was buried onthe eastern banks of the Chosin Reservoir. After all attempts to identify the remains failed, amilitary review board declared the remains unidentifiable and the remains were interred as“unknown” at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the “Punchbowl.”

In 2012, analysts from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) and DPMOreevaluated MacLean’s records and determined that, due to the advances in technology, theremains should be exhumed for identification.

In the identification of MacLean’s remains, scientists from JPAC used circumstantialevidence and forensic identification tools, such as dental and radiograph comparisons.

Using modern technology, identifications continue to be made from remains that werepreviously turned over by North Korean officials. More than 7,900 Americans remainunaccounted for from the Korean War.

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) 699-1420.

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