Jones, Pfc Lotchie J.R.

The Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that 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 Pfc. Lotchie J.R. Jones, 18, of Jasper, Tenn., will be buried March 6, in Chattanooga, Tenn. In November 1950, Jones was a member of Company B, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. In 1953, reports from returning prisoners of war (POW) indicated that Jones was captured by enemy forces Nov. 2, 1950, and died in a prisoner of war camp, known as Camp 5, Feb. 28, 1951.

From August 31 to Nov. 9, 1954, the United Nations and communist forces exchanged the war dead, commonly known as Operation Glory. As part of the exchange, communist forces turned over 25 boxes of remains that were believed to be American servicemen who were recovered near the vicinity where Jones was held as a POW. The remains were transferred to the U.S. Army’s Central Identification Unit (CIU) in Kokura, Japan for analysis. Out of the 25 boxes transferred to the CIU, 17 servicemen were identified; one box was believed to be that of a Korean national; and the last seven boxes of remains were unidentified. When all attempts to associate these remains to servicemen were unsuccessful, a military review board declared the remains to be unidentifiable and the remains were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, commonly known as the Punchbowl.

In 2014, with the advances of technology, the DoD laboratory, re-examined the records from the CIU and concluded that the possibility of identifying the remains now existed. The remains were exhumed and analyzed.

To identify Jones’ remains, scientists from DPAA used circumstantial evidence, radiographs and dental comparison.

Today, 7.855 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 recovery teams.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans, who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or call (703) 699-1420.