A Korean War soldier who went missing in action has been accounted for, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).
U.S Army Private First Class Robert J. Wright Jr. of Hollybrook, VA was accounted for Apr. 28, 2023.
Wright was a member of G Company, 2nd Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, Eighth U.S. Army. He was reported missing in November of 1950 after his unit attempted to withdraw from Kunu-ri, North Korea following the Battle of Ch’ongch’on.
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Wright was a prisoner of war and died in March of 1951 at Prisoner of War Camp #5. In 1954, during Operation Glory, remains were returned to the United Nations Command by North Korea that were reportedly recovered from Pyoktong, which was also called the Prisoner of War Camp #5.
A set of remains from the camp was labeled Unknown X-14717 and buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In August 2019, the DPAA disinterred remains of Unknown X-14717, as part of the second phase of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
Scientists from the DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System also used mitochondrial DNA analysis to help identify Wright’s remains. Wright’s name, as well as many others of the Korean War, is recorded on the American Battle Monuments Commission’ Court of the Missing at the Punchbowl. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate that he has been accounted for.
The family of PFC Wright has recently received a full briefing on his identification and he is set to be buried in his hometown of Hollybrook, VA.
