Kubic, Pfc. Peter

July 20, 2011

SOLDIER MIA FROM KOREAN WAR IDENTIFIED

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Army Pfc. Peter Kubic, 22, of Laflin, Pa., will be buried July 21 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. On Feb. 12, 1951, he was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea, when his division came under attack near Hoengsong. The unit was forced to withdraw to a more defensible position. Following the battle, Kubic was reported missing in action.

Information released in a Chinese propaganda broadcast in 1951 established that Kubic had been captured by enemy forces. A subsequent report indicated that he died while in captivity, although no date or cause of death was identified.

Between 1991 and 1994, North Korea gave the United States 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200-400 U.S. servicemen. North Korean documents, turned over with some of the boxes, indicated that human remains were recovered from North Hwanghae Province. This area correlates to the approximate location of two major North Korean POW camps – Suan Bean Camp and Suan Mining Camp.

Among forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA – which matched that of Kubic’s sister—in the identification. In addition, Kubic’s military identification tags were included with the remains.

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