The remains of an Army sergeant who died while being held as a POW during the Korean War have been identified and are finally being returned to his family for burial. The Defense POW/MIA -- the government agency tasked with identifying the remains of U.S. personnel killed in previous wars -- says the remains of Master Sgt. Ira Miss, Jr., who was from Frederick, Maryland, will be laid to rest with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery on Feb. 8.
Miss disappeared during battle with Chinese forces
Miss was just 23-years-old when he disappeared during a bloody battle with Chinese forces in an area known as the Central Corridor in South Korea in February of 1951.
During the battle South Korean soldiers, fighting along with U.S. forces, withdrew in the face of an overwhelming Chinese attack. The withdrawal of the South Koreans left U.S. Army units behind enemy lines. Miss was manning a roadblock when Chinese troops overran the roadblock and he was taken prisoner.
Miss was reported missing in action on Feb. 13, 1951, almost 66 years before he’s finally being laid rest. He was declared dead a few months later when repatriated POWS reported that he had died while being held captive at a camp called POW Camp 1 in Changsong, North Korea, a notorious POW camp where hundreds of American POWs perished or were executed.
Had been seriously wounded in earlier battle
The Army says Miss had been awarded the Purple Heart with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Combat Infantryman Badge and other medals. Before being taken captive he had been wounded in another bloody battle in November, but returned to duty in early January -- a little more than a month before he was captured by the Chinese.
HIs remains were among the remains of war dead turned over to the U.S. in 1954 and interred as ‘“unknowns” at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, known as the “Punchbowl.” With advances in technology, his remains, as well as the remains of scores of other U.S. personnel, were exhumed in 2015 for analysis.
Officials with the Defense POW/MIA say scientists used anthropological, dental and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as advanced DNA testing, to match a niece and a sister to identify Miss’ remains. His remains are among the dozens of sets of remains of U.S. personnel killed in the Korean War, World War II and in the Vietnam War, that have been identified over the past year, though 7,763 Americans still remain unaccounted for from the Korean War.
