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    Missing no more; Lopa laid to rest after 74 years

    Fallen Korean War Soldier Accounted For

    Photo By Sgt. Michael Schwenk | U.S. Army Pfc. Anthony J. Lopa, Delta Battery, 82nd Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic...... read more read more

    WRIGHTSTOWN, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES

    02.03.2025

    Story by Mark Olsen  

    New Jersey National Guard   

    Seventy-four years ago, U.S. Army Pfc. Anthony John Lopa was getting ready to support Operation Manchu in South Korea.
    The 17 year-old from North Arlington, New Jersey, was assigned to Delta Battery, 82nd Anti-aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons (Self-Propelled) Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. The 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division was preparing to sneak across to the western bank of the Naktong River, Aug. 31, 1950, with orders to destroy enemy material, capture enemy personnel, and documents.
    “D Battery was ordered to provide fire support to that raiding force,” said Kelly Domitrowski, niece of Pfc. Lopa. “D Battery had moved two sections down to the Naktong River, establishing fire positions to support the friendly raid.”
    Domitrowski spoke during the Korean Armistice ceremony held at the New Jersey Korean War Memorial in Atlantic City July 26, 2024.
    “As the various elements of the U.S. attacking and supporting forces started to move on their respective positions, they had no idea just across the river, enemy forces were massing a large scale offensive across the large portion of the front,” said Domitrowski
    Without any warning, the North Korean troops attacked.
    According to regimental chaplain Capt. Lewis B. Sheen: “Our calm was shattered by enemy artillery and mortar barrage, which continued to 0100 hours. The air above us was solid with singing lead for over two hours.”
    This would later be known as the Second Battle of the Naktong Bulge.
    “The two sections were overrun,” said Domitrowski. “As night closed in, D Battery reported heavy losses in equipment, as well as two officers and 44 Soldiers missing in action, including Pfc. Lopa.”
    Due to the intense fighting in the region, his body could not be recovered at that time.
    A set of remains was recovered near Amp’yong, South Korea, in March 1951. They could not be initially identified and were designated X-2023 C Tanggok and buried in the United Nations Cemetery Tanggok. In August 1951, the Central Identification Unit Kokura in Japan began a reexamination of X-2023 C. They made several attempts between then and August 1954 before ultimately declaring the remains unidentifiable. All 848 unidentified sets of Korean War remains at CIU-Kokura were sent to Hawaii in 1956 where they were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
    “I never got to meet him, but my mom always asked me to remember him and to find him,” said Domitrowski.
    In July 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl. In May 2021, the DPAA disinterred Unknown X-2023 C as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Project and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
    To identify Lopa’s remains, DPAA scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis.
    On July 21, 2023, Lopa’s remains were identified. The DPAA made his accounting public April 5, 2024.
    Lopa was laid to rest with full military honors at the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown June 28.
    Lopa’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
    To this day, 7,466 Americans remained unaccounted for.
    During the ceremony in Atlantic City, U.S. Air Force Col. Yvonne L. Mays, Acting Adjutant General of New Jersey, presented Domitrowski her uncle’s state military awards – the New Jersey Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster; the New Jersey Korean Service Medal, and the New Jersey POW-MIA Medal.
    “I'm so happy that we were able to find him and put him to rest after 74 years,” said Domitrowski.

    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 02.03.2025
    Date Posted: 02.03.2025 15:05
    Story ID: 489997
    Location: WRIGHTSTOWN, NEW JERSEY, US

    Web Views: 44
    Downloads: 0

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