Remains of Korean War Soldier buried in Mount Vernon, Illinois

Courtesy Photo | The remains of Army Sgt. Howard G. Malcolm, a Soldier killed during the Korean War, were buried July 11 in Mount Vernon, Illinois. Malcolm was reported missing in action Dec. 1, 1950, at age 23, after his unit’s withdrawal from Kunu-ri to Sunchon, North Korea. According to historical records, Malcolm died a prisoner of war in August 1951 at POW Camp No. 5.  

FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, UNITED STATES

07.12.2023

Story by Fonda Bock 

U.S. Army Human Resources Command

FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of Army Sgt. Howard G. Malcolm, a Soldier killed during the Korean War, will be interred July 11 at Bethel Memorial Cemetery, Mount Vernon, Illinois. Sutherland-Rankin Funeral Home, Salem, Illinois, will perform graveside services preceding the interment.

A native of Mount Vernon, Illinois, Malcolm was a member of Headquarters Company, Ninth Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action Dec. 1, 1950, at age 23, after his unit’s withdrawal from Kunu-ri to Sunchon, North Korea. Several Prisoners of War who returned during Operation Big Switch in 1953 reported Malcolm had been a POW who died in August 1951 at Prisoner of War Camp No. 5.

North Korea returned remains reportedly recovered from Pyoktong, also known as Prisoner of War Camp No. 5, to the United Nations Command in the summer and fall of 1954 during Operation Glory. However, Malcolm’s name did not appear on any of the transfer rosters and the Central Identification Unit in Kokura, Japan, did not associate any repatriated remains with him. Malcolm was determined non-recoverable in October 1955.

In July 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War unknowns from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii. A year later, DPAA disinterred Unknown X-14357, a set of remains returned during Operation Glory, as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Plan sending them to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

Malcolm was accounted for by the DPAA Oct. 25, 2022, after his remains were identified using 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 National Memorial Cemetery 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 Sgt. Malcolm, go to https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3201485/soldier-accounted-for-from-korean-war-malcolm-h/

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 Sutherland-Rankin Funeral Home, [phone].

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• Date Taken: 07.12.2023
• Date Posted: 07.12.2023 10:39
• Story ID: 448969
• Location: FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US