Soldier Missing In Action From Korean War Is Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Pfc. Milton Dinerboiler Jr., U.S. Army, of Elkhart, Ind. His burial date is being set by his family.

Representatives from the Army met with Dinerboiler's next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the Army.

In late November 1950, Dinerboiler was assigned to the Heavy Mortar Company, 32nd Infantry Regiment, then attached to the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), 7th Infantry Division. The team was engaged in battle against the Chinese People's Volunteer Forces near the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea, from late November to early December 1950. Dinerboiler was captured by the Chinese and marched on a route north of the Chosin Reservoir. He died in mid-to-late April 1951, from poor health and the lack of medical treatment. He was buried beside a hill along the route.

In 2002, a joint U.S./Democratic People's Republic of Korea team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), recovered human remains from an isolated grave north of the Chosin Reservoir. The site correlates to a route that American POWs were taken while being moved north to a POW camp.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of Dinerboiler's remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.