Kidd, Cpl. Elmer C.

Nov. 6, 2012

SOLDIER MISSING FROM KOREAN WAR IDENTIFIED

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

Army Cpl. Elmer C. Kidd, 22, of Seneca Falls, N.Y., will be buried Nov. 9, in Romulus, N.Y. In late November 1950, Kidd and his unit, the 31st Regimental Combat Team, known as “Task Force Faith,” were advancing along the eastern banks of the Chosin Reservoir, in North Korea when they were attacked by a massive enemy force. They began a fighting withdrawal to positions near Hagaru-ri, south of the reservoir. It was during this withdrawal that Kidd went missing.

Between 1991 and 1994, North Korea gave the United States 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200-400 U.S. service members. Analysts from DPMO and the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) developed a list of military members missing from the area where the remains were reportedly located. Kidd was listed as missing from one of the recovery sites.

In the identification of the remains, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools, such as radiograph and mitochondrial DNA–which matched Kidd’s sister and nephew.

Using modern technology, identifications continue to be made from remains that were previously turned over by North Korean officials.

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.