Subscribe
FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of Army Sgt. 1st Class James L. Wilkinson, a Soldier killed during the Korean War, were interred Sept. 16 at Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery, Monroe, Georgia. Hutcheson’s Memorial Chapel & Crematory, Buchanan, Georgia, will perform graveside services preceding the interment.
A native of Bowden, Georgia, Wilkinson was a member of G Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action Sept. 8, 1950, at age 19, during battle along the Naktong River near Yongson, South Korea. Due to ongoing fighting, his body could not be recovered at the time, and there was never any evidence he was a prisoner of war. The Army issued a presumptive finding of death Dec. 31, 1953.
In July 1951, the Army began recovering remains from the area and temporarily interring them at the United Nations Military Cemetery Tanggok. One set of recovered remains, designated Unknown X-1588, was declared unidentifiable by the Central Identification Unit-Kokura in Japan, and buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, with other Korean War Unknowns.
On March 25, 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency disinterred Unknown X-1588, as part of Phase Three of the Korean War Disinterment Project, sending the remains to a DPAA laboratory for analysis.
Wilkinson was accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Dec. 5, 2022, after his remains were identified using chest radiograph comparison as well as dental, anthropological, and mitochondria DNA analysis.
His name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
More than 7,500 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War.
For additional information about Sgt. 1st Class Wilkinson, go to: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3471112/soldier-accounted-for-from-korean-war-wilkinson-j/
To learn more about the Department of Defense’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at http://www.dpaa.mil, www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or call (703) 699-1420/1169.
-30-
| Date Taken: | 09.18.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 09.18.2023 10:03 |
| Story ID: | 453647 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, , KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 27 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Remains of Korean War Soldier to be buried in Monroe, Georgia, by Fonda Bock, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
