LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The remains of a soldier killed during the Korean War will be interred on Dec. 10 in Whitesville, the Department of Defense announced Monday. The graveside services for Army Pfc. Robert A. Wright will be held at Saint Mary of the Woods Cemetary and be officiated by the Cecil Funeral Home preceding the interment.
A native of Whitesville, Wright was a member of the C Company, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He went missing in action on July 16, 1950, at age 18, while fighting along the Kum River near Taejon, South Korea. Due to the fighting, his body could not be recovered. There was never any evidence that he was a prisoner of war. The Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953.
After regaining control of Taejon in the fall of 1950, the Army began recovering the remains of American soldiers in the area and temporarlily burying them at the United Nations Military Cemetary of Taejon. The remains of Wright were originally declared unidentifiable and moved to the National Memorial of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl in Honolulu. Finally, in Aug. 2022, the remains of Wright were identified using circumstantial evidence, as well as dental, anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis.
His 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, indicating that he has been accounted for.
More than 7,500 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War.