Michigan soldier killed in Korean War to be buried next week at Arlington National Cemetery

PALMER, Mich. (AP) – The remains of a Michigan soldier who was killed in the Korean War in 1950 will be buried next week at Arlington National Cemetery, nearly a year after they were identified by military experts, officials said.

Army Cpl. Gordon D. McCarthy’s remains will be interred on Dec. 14 at the cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, following graveside services, the U.S. Army Human Resources Command said in a news release.

The Palmer, Michigan, native was 20 when he was reported missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950, after enemy forces attacked his unit in North Korea near the Chosin Reservoir. Following the battle, his remains could not be recovered.

But remains turned over by North Korea in 2018 were identified in February as McCarthy’s by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. That agency, an arm of the U.S. Defense Department, announced in July that scientists used circumstantial evidence as well as anthropological and DNA analysis to identify his remains.

McCarthy’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. Following his identification, officials said a rosette would be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

More than 7,500 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War, the U.S. Army Human Resources Command said.