Remains of Korean War Soldier to be buried in Ottumwa, Iowa

Courtesy Photo | The remains of Army Cpl. Delbert L. White, a Soldier killed during the Korean War, will be interred June 16 at Calvary Cemetery, Ottumwa, Iowa. White was a member of D Company, 2nd Engineer (Combat) Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. He, along with many of the Soldiers in his unit, were captured by the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces Dec. 1, 1950, as they attempted to block the Chinese forces and allow the rest of 2nd ID to escape south. The Army determined White died a prisoner of war March 18, 1951. He was 20 years old.  

FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, UNITED STATES

06.14.2023

Story by Fonda Bock 

U.S. Army Human Resources Command

FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of Army Cpl. Delbert L. White, a Soldier killed during the Korean War, will be interred June 16 at Calvary Cemetery, Ottumwa, Iowa. Reece Funeral Home, Ottumwa, will perform graveside services preceding the interment.

A native of Ottumwa, White was a member of D Company, 2nd Engineer (Combat) Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. Many of the Soldiers, including White, were captured by the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces Dec. 1, 1950, as they attempted to block the Chinese forces and allow the rest of 2nd ID to escape south. In August 1953, United Nations Command received a list from the Chinese military stating White died a prisoner of war in March 1951 at Prisoner of War Camp No. 1. However, two American POWs, who returned in September 1953, said White died in February 1951 at POW Camp No. 5. Despite conflicting reports, the Army determined a date of death for him of March 18, 1951. White was 20 years old.

During Operation GLORY, in the fall of 1954, 550 sets of remains reported to be from POW Camp No. 5 were returned to United Nations Command. Thirty-eight sets could not be identified and were buried as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1956.

In October 2019, during Phase 2 of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s Korean War Disinterment Project, Unknown X-14794 Operation GLORY was disinterred from the Punchbowl and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.

White was accounted for by the DPAA Sept. 27, 2022, after his remains were identified using circumstantial evidence, chest radiograph comparison as well as dental, anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis.

His name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl along with the others still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will 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.

For additional information about Cpl. White, go to https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3178854/soldier-accounted-for-from-korean-war-white-d/

To learn more about the Department of Defense’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at http://www.dpaa.mil, www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or call [phone]/1169.

Media interested in covering the funeral/interment, and/or obtaining more information, should contact the Army Casualty Office at [phone] and/or Reece Funeral Home, [phone].

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• Date Taken: 06.14.2023
• Date Posted: 06.14.2023 09:25
• Story ID: 447119
• Location: FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US