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## News Release

# Korean War Missing In Action Serviceman Identified (Bellar)

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced todaythat the remains of a U.S. Army soldier, missing in action from the Korean War, have beenidentified and are being returned to his family for burial in Schererville, Ind.

He is Private First Class Lowell W. Bellar of Gary, Ind. He is to be buried on July 15,the date of his birth in 1931.

In Nov.-Dec. 1950 Bellar’s unit, Company M of the 31st Infantry Regiment, wassurrounded and overrun by Chinese communist forces near the Chosin Reservoir in northeastNorth Korea. Elements of his unit joined others in their breakout and fighting retreat as theymade their way to relative safety further south to an area near the village of Hagaru. Regimentalrecords compiled after the battle indicate that Bellar was killed in action on Dec. 1, 1950. Morethan 1,000 men, primarily Marines and Army soldiers, are still missing in North Korea from theChosin campaign.

The DPMO opened negotiations with North Korea in January 1996 for U.S. teams torecover remains of servicemen still missing from the Korean War. Joint U.S.-North Koreanrecovery teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) excavated a site inSept. and again in Oct. 2001 believed to be the location where American soldiers were buried.They recovered remains of 12 individuals, some of which were later identified as those of Bellar.

Laboratory analysis of the remains by forensic scientists at JPAC led to Bellar’sidentification. Comparison of Bellar’s mitochondrial DNA data with samples from his familywere key factors in their finding.

Of the 88,000 Americans unaccounted-for from all conflicts, approximately 8,100 arefrom the Korean War. Remains believed to be those of more than 220 American servicemenhave been recovered in joint operations in North Korea since 1996.

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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