Soldier killed in Korean War finally identified as Miamisburg man after 69 years

WHIO Staff
·2 min read
3

An unidentified soldier who was killed during the Korean War was finally accounted for and discovered to be from Miamisburg.

>> TRENDING: 2 suspects crash stolen vehicle, then flee from authorities in Springfield

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that United States Army Private First Class Billy A. DeBord, 18, of Miamisburg, was killed during the Korean War and finally accounted for April 28, 2023.

In July 1950, DeBord was a member of F Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Eighth U.S. Army.

He was reported missing in action on July 25 while his unit was engaged by the North Korean People’s Army near Yongdong, South Korea. Due to the fighting, his body could not be recovered at that time, and there was never any evidence that he was a prisoner of war.

The Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953.

On April 17, 1951, the 565th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company recovered a set of remains designated Unknown X-945 near Yongdong. There was not enough identifying evidence to associate the remains with DeBord and were declared unidentifiable on April 15, 1955.

The remains were sent to Hawaii where they were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl. On Oct. 21, 2019, DPAA disinterred Unknown X-945 as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Project and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

To identify DeBord’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

DeBord’s name was recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who remained missing from the Korean War. A rosette was placed next to his name to indicate he had been accounted for.

DeBord was to be buried in Miamisburg, Ohio on Nov. 11, 2023.

For family and funeral information, you can contact the Army Casualty Office at 800-892-2490.