25-02-2025
St. Louisan Korean War veteran accounted for after 73 years MIA
ST. LOUIS – It was announced Tuesday that the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency had accounted for a St. Louis native Korean War veteran last year after going missing in action over 70 years ago.
Officials identified the veteran as 29-year-old U.S. Army Sgt. 1st class Walter Archie Ross Jr. last June. He went unaccounted for on Feb. 14, 1951, when his unit entered in the Chinese Communist Forces in South Korea and were ultimately overran, according to a release.
Five years later, in January 1956, Ross was still unaccounted for and deemed nonrecoverable.
Decades later in 1994, the U.S. received remains of 14 individuals from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea government, believed to be service members. Among those 14, three of them were remains from Suan County in North Korea, which is the area surrounding where Ross was last accounted for.
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It was determined that Ross died in captivity in April 1951 at the Suan POW Camp Complex in North Korea suffering from dysentery.
Following extensive testing for identification through dental and anthropological information in addition to chest radiographs and other evidence, scientists identified one of the remains as Ross.
Ross will be buried in his home state of Missouri. A date for his burial has not been scheduled yet.
A rosette will be placed next to Ross' name at the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl in Honolulu, Hawaii, signifying him being accounted for.
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