With the Sept. 9, 2024, accounting of Army Cpl. Billie Charles Driver, 18, from Dallas, Texas, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency marked the identification of the 700th missing personnel from the Korean War. Driver, a member of the 1st Calvary Division, perished in the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter, Sept. 5, 1950.
“This is an incredible milestone,” said Kelly McKeague, DPAA director, “It is reflective of the talent and dedication of the Department of Defense personnel who dutifully serve this sacred mission.”
Since 1982, forensic scientists have painstakingly and skillfully analyzed recovered remains to reach this accounting milestone and return fallen Korean War personnel back to their families for proper burial honors. This number is in addition to the roughly 2,000 Americans whose remains were identified in the years immediately following the end of hostilities, when the North Korean government returned more than 3,000 sets of remains to U.S. custody.
“The Korean War Identification Project was established to oversee the identification process for all Korean War laboratory cases,” said Kristen Grow, project lead. “Our dedicated team represents the largest project in the DPAA Laboratory and involves remains from varied sources, including unilateral turnovers, field recoveries, cemetery disinterments and cases turned over to us by our esteemed partner organization in South Korea. Cases from Korea represent highly commingled human remains involving thousands of missing persons from varied proveniences.”