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Alabama soldier's remains returning home 74 years after his death in the Korean War
The remains of an Alabama infantryman who was killed in the Korean War are returning home for burial.The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that U.S. Army Cpl. Waymon Slaten, 18, of Arab, was killed during the Korean War and accounted for on Aug. 14, according to a DPAA release.The information was announced after Slaten’s family was notified.Slaten was reported missing in action on Sept. 1, 1950, while a member of B Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, after his unit engaged in combat actions with the enemy on Hill 209, west of Yongsan, South Korea. His body could not be recovered at the time because of intense fighting in the area, according to the DPAA.The circumstances of his death were unknown, and the U.S. Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953.On Oct. 22, 1950, the American Graves Registration Service recovered Unknown Remains X-256, where Slaten was reported missing. However, those remains could not be identified as Slaten at the time, and they were subsequently buried as an unknown in the United Nations Military Cemetery, Tanggok, South Korea. In 1954, the remains were reexamined and still deemed unidentifiable. They were repatriated to the United States and interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.In May 2021, the remains were disinterred and sent for lab analysis.DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, along with chest radiographs and other circumstantial evidence, and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis to identify the remains.Slaten’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.Slaten will be buried in his hometown of Arab on Jan. 13, 2025.>> WVTM 13 ON-THE-GO: Download our app for free
WASHINGTON —
The remains of an Alabama infantryman who was killed in the Korean War are returning home for burial.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that U.S. Army Cpl. Waymon Slaten, 18, of Arab, was killed during the Korean War and accounted for on Aug. 14, according to a DPAA release.
The information was announced after Slaten’s family was notified.
Slaten was reported missing in action on Sept. 1, 1950, while a member of B Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, after his unit engaged in combat actions with the enemy on Hill 209, west of Yongsan, South Korea.
His body could not be recovered at the time because of intense fighting in the area, according to the DPAA.
The circumstances of his death were unknown, and the U.S. Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953.
On Oct. 22, 1950, the American Graves Registration Service recovered Unknown Remains X-256, where Slaten was reported missing. However, those remains could not be identified as Slaten at the time, and they were subsequently buried as an unknown in the United Nations Military Cemetery, Tanggok, South Korea.
In 1954, the remains were reexamined and still deemed unidentifiable.
They were repatriated to the United States and interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In May 2021, the remains were disinterred and sent for lab analysis.
DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, along with chest radiographs and other circumstantial evidence, and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis to identify the remains.
Slaten’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.
Slaten will be buried in his hometown of Arab on Jan. 13, 2025.
>> WVTM 13 ON-THE-GO: Download our app for free
English (US)