Archambeault, Sgt. Richard J.

June 2, 2014

Soldier Missing From Korean War Accounted For

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Army Sgt. Richard J. Archambeault, 20, of Northampton, Mass., will be buried June 2 in Salisbury, Md. In November 1950, Archambeault was assigned to Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, when his unit was attacked by Chinese forces while occupying a position along the Nammyon River, near Unsan, North Korea. Archambeault was reported missing in action on Nov. 2, 1950, when his unit began a fighting withdrawal to a more defensible position. A military board later amended his status to killed in action.

Between 1991 and 1994, North Korea turned over to the U.S. 208 boxes of human remains believed to contain 350 – 400 U.S. servicemen who fought during the war. North Korean documents, turned over with some of the boxes, indicated that some of the remains were recovered from the area where Archambeault was believed to have died.

To identify Archambeault’s remains, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) usedcircumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools, including two forms of DNA comparisons. Scientists also used dental comparison which matched his records.

Today, 7,882 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. Using modern technology, identifications continue to be made from remains that were previously turned over by North Korean officials or recovered from North Korea by American teams.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans, who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPMO web site at www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.