Remains turned over after Trump-Kim summit found to be Wisconsin man

ALMA CENTER, Wis. (WMTV) – The remains of a Wisconsin soldier killed during the Korean War were among the dozens handed over by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un following his 2018 meeting with then-President Donald Trump.

Army Cpl. Donald “Donny” L. DuPont went missing in Dec. 1950 during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, according to the Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). At the time, DuPont was a member of B Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division.

He was one of 30,000 U.S. and British soldiers pitted against 120,000 Chinese soldiers in a confrontation, which a U.S. Marines’ website described as one of the pivotal events of the 20th century, that happened just weeks after the Communist nation entered the war.

DuPont disappeared five days into the 17-day battle and his remains were never found, the DPAA indicated, noting that they also had no evidence that he was taken as prisoner of war.

On the 75th anniversary of the armistice that ended the fighting in the Korean War, and about a month after Trump and Kim’s 2018 meeting in Singapore, North Korea handed over what it claimed were the remains of 55 soldiers killed during the conflict.

Using multiple analyses methods, including DNA identification, DPAA determined DuPont’s remains were among those turned over.

His name is currently enshrined on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, in Honolulu, which marks those still missing from the war. The DPAA notes a rosette will now be placed next to it to indicate he has been identified.

DuPont will be laid to rest next month, on Aug. 23, in Fairchild, Wisconsin.

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