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. Charles H. Long, U.S. Army, of Durand, Ill. He will be buried Nov. 25 in Durand.
Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin to explain
the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment
with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.
On March 24, 1953, Long was one of four men from L Company,3rd
Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, who was
declared missing in action after engaging enemy forces north of the
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on what came to be known as Pork Chop Hill.
The bodies of two of the MIAs were recovered and a third MIA was
returned alive during Operation Big Switch after having been captured
by Chinese Communist Forces. Long remained unaccounted-for, and was
eventually declared dead on March 24, 1954.
In 1993, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) gave
United Nations officials 33 boxes with human remains of alleged U.S.
servicemen who were unaccounted-for. The DPRK recovered the remains
near Komsa-ri in Kangwon Province, which was near Long’s last known
location. Also included in one of the boxes were Long’s social security
and identification cards along with identification tags.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial
evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC)
and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used
mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of the
remains.
