Remains of Texas Veteran from the Korean War Identified

The Trump diplomacy with North Korea ultimately did not amount to much, but one of the good things that happened was that the Kim regime handed over 55 Korean War remains that continue to be identified using DNA analysis:

He was killed on the battlefield aged just 27 while fighting in the Korean War in 1950. Now, 72 years later, U.S. Army Cpl. Tommie T. Hanks has finally been identified and accounted for.

Cpl. Hanks was originally from Fort Worth, Texas, and was reported missing in action on Nov. 26, 1950, after his unit was attacked by the enemy as it attempted to withdraw from east of the Ch’ongch’on River near Anju in North Korea, according to a statement from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) this week.

“Following the battle, his remains could not be recovered,” the DPAA said, and Hanks was declared “nonrecoverable” on Jan. 16, 1956.

However, after a historic meeting between former president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June 2018, Pyongyang turned over 55 boxes to U.S. authorities that “purported to contain the remains of American service members killed during the Korean War.”

The remains were taken to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where DPAA laboratory experts worked to identify the individuals. Scientists “used anthropological and isotope analysis” as well as DNA evidence to identify Hanks.

His body was finally accounted for in August 2022, the DPAA said, and it found “no evidence that he was ever a prisoner of war.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the Kim regime still holds many more war remains that they keep as bargaining chips for future negotiations.