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## News Release

# Soldier Missing In Action From The Korean War Is Identified (Crater)

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 returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Pfc. Francis Crater, Jr., U.S. Army’s 32nd Infantry Regiment, of Barberton, Ohio.He will be buried Oct. 21 in Akron, Ohio.

From Nov. 27-Dec. 1, 1950, the U.S. Army’s 31st Regimental Combat Team, to whichCrater’s regiment was temporarily assigned, fought elements of the Chinese People’s VolunteerForces in the Changjin Reservoir, North Korea. After intense fighting, the 1/32 Infantry wasforced to abandon its position, leaving its dead behind. Regimental records compiled after thebattle indicate that Crater was killed in action on Nov. 28, 1950.

Between 2002 and 2003, two joint U.S.-Democratic People’s Republic of North Koreateams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), excavated two, adjacent massgraves on the eastern shore of the Chosin Reservoir believed to be burial sites of U.S. soldiersfrom the 31st RCT. The team found human remains for eight individuals and other materialevidence, including Crater’s identification tags.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists fromJPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA anddental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

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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