WASHINGTON—The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Pfc. Albert A. Gosnell, 18, of Greenville, South Carolina, who was killed during the Korean War, was accounted for May 15, 2023.
In July 1950, Gosnell was a member of Heavy Mortar Company, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action after his unit was forced to retreat in the vicinity of Taejon, South Korea, on July 16, 1950. Due to the fighting, his body could not be recovered at that time, and there was never any evidence that he was a prisoner of war. The Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953.
After regaining control of Taejon in the fall of 1950, the Army began recovering remains from the area and temporarily interring them at the United Nations Military Cemetery (UNMC) Taejon. One set of remains recovered during this period was designated Unknown X-274 Taejon. After extensive analysis by the Central Identification Unit-Kokura in Japan was unable to identify X-274, the remains were declared unidentifiable. They were later sent to Hawaii where they were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, with other Korean War Unknowns.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl. In July 2019, DPAA disinterred Unknown X-274 as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Project and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Gosnell’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Gosnell’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.
Gosnell will be buried in Anderson, South Carolina, on a date to be determined.
