Remains of teen U.S. soldier identified 74 years after he went missing in Korean War

The stays of a teenage soldier who was killed in motion through the Korean Battle have been recognized after almost 75 years, U.S. army officers stated Thursday.

U.S. Military Pvt. 1st Class Arlie P. Barrett, 19, of Bluff Metropolis, Tennessee, was a member of the Straightforward Firm in August 1950, in line with a information launch from the Protection POW/MIA Accounting Company. On Aug. 10, 1950, he and his unit engaged in “fight actions” with the North Korean Folks’s Military alongside the Naktong River close to Yongsan, South Korea. 

After these actions, Barrett was deemed lacking in motion. Preventing within the space was intense and stored the army from recovering his physique on the time. The circumstances of his loss of life stay unknown, the DPAA stated. He was listed as presumed lifeless in December 1953, in line with an archival information clipping shared by the DPAA. He acquired a Purple Coronary heart for his service. 

A number of months later, in December 1950, a set of unknown stays was recovered from a village about eight miles from the place Barrett was deemed lacking in motion. The stays couldn’t be recognized on the time and had been buried as unknown within the Nationwide Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, and his title was recorded on the Courts of the Lacking there. 

In November 2000, a memorial service was held to commemorate Barrett, in line with archival information clippings. On the time, his sister, Ruby Barrett Fleenor, stated that she had submitted a DNA pattern to army officers that she hoped would result in the identification of Barrett’s stays. 

In June 2021, the stays present in December 1950 had been disinterred and dropped at the the DPAA laboratory, the place researchers mix expertise, analysis and extra to attempt to establish unknown stays. The methods used included dental and anthropological evaluation, a radiograph of the chest of the stays, and mitochondrial DNA and mitochondrial genome evaluation. Researchers additionally used circumstantial proof to find out the identification of the stays. 

On June 7, 2024, the stays had been recognized as Barrett’s. 

To commemorate his identification, a rosette might be positioned subsequent to his title on the Courts of the Lacking. He might be buried in Mountain Residence, Tennessee on Sept. 27, 2024. His funeral could have full army honors. 

Barrett is one in all greater than 450 People who had been killed within the Korean Battle whose stays have been recognized and returned to their households since 1982, in line with the DPAA. Over 7,500 People stay unaccounted for from the battle, the DPAA stated.