Remains of Kentucky soldier killed in Korean War identified

WHITESVILLE, Ky. (AP) – Officials say they have identified the remains of a western Kentucky soldier killed in a battle during the Korean War.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said in a statement Friday that Army Pfc. Robert A. Wright of Whitesville was accounted for earlier this year.

The 18-year-old went missing in action during fighting along the Kum River in 1950 near Taejon, South Korea.

His body couldn’t be immediately recovered and the Army issued a presumptive finding of death in 1953.

Scientists began a project in 2018 to identify unknown remains at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and used DNA, dental and anthropological analysis to identify Wright.