Body of Baldwyn soldier, MIA since July 1950, located and to be buried next month
The Body of a soldier from Baldwyn, missing since July of 1950, was recently located and will be returned to be buried next month.
From the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency:
WASHINGTON – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Pfc. Jimmy Rowland, 19, of Baldwyn, Mississippi, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Nov. 5, 2021.
In July 1950, Rowland was a member of Heavy Mortar Company, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on July 16 while fighting North Korean forces along the Kum River north of Taejon, South Korea. He was never found, nor were any remains recovered that could be identified as Rowland. He was declared non-recoverable in January 1956.
In February 1951, four sets of remains were recovered at the foot of a bridge west of the Seoul-Taejon main supply route and south of Taepyong-ni. Three of the individuals were identified as casualties from the 19th Inf. Reg., but the fourth was unable to be identified. Those remains were designated Unknown X-418 Tanggok and were later transported with all of the unidentified Korean War remains and buried as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In July 2018, DPAA historians and anthropologists proposed a plan to disinter and identify the 652 Korean War unknown burials from the Punchbowl. X-418 was disinterred March 4, 2019, as part of Phase 1 of the Korean War Identification Project and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
To identify Rowland’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Rowland’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monument Commission’s 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 to indicate he has been accounted for.
Rowland will be buried Jan. 15, 2022, in his hometown.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
To see the most up-to-date statistics on DPAA recovery efforts for those unaccounted for from the Korean War, go to the Korean War fact sheet on the DPAA website at: https://www.dpaa.mil/Resources/Fact-Sheets/Article-View/Article/569610/progress-on-korean-war-personnel-accounting/.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.
