WASHINGTON— An Upper Peninsula soldier killed in the Korean War has been accounted for.
Army Cpl. Gordon D. McCarthy of Palmer was a member of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on December 2nd, 1950, when his unit was attacked by enemy forces near the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea. Following the battle, his remains could not be recovered.
During a 2018 summit between North Korea and the U.S., North Korea turned over 55 boxes, purported to contain the remains of American service members killed in the war.
The remains arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on August 1st, 2018, and were subsequently accessioned into the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) laboratory for identification. Scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence to identify McCarthy’s remains. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.
McCarthy’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, 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.
McCarthy will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on date yet to be determined.
