For Additional Headlines - go to our News Section »

• Three Bay County Hospitals Go Smoke-Free
  made by protectfloridajobs.com
• Three Bay County Hospitals Go Smoke-Free
  made by retired one
• Man Arrested for Catching Goliath Grouper
  made by gator@work
• Three Bay County Hospitals Go Smoke-Free
  made by gator@work
• Three Bay County Hospitals Go Smoke-Free
  made by retired one

• Joe Francis a No Show for Court Proceeding
• Girls Gone Wild “Saga” Continues
• Update: New Details in Cocaine Case Emerge
• Woman Charged with Fatally Shooting Husband After Blaming Dog
• H1N1 Flu Vaccination Clinic for People 24 and Under
• Fountain Woman Charged with Husband’s Murder - First Appearance
• Cocaine Trial for Amy Cooper Continues
• 10 Worst Toys of the 2009 Holiday Season
• Mistrial Declared in Case Against Amy Cooper
• Tuberculosis Case at Arnold

Soldier Missing in Action From Korean War is Identified
01/12/09 - 02:04 PM

U.S. Department of Defense

 RSS Feed

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 Master Sgt. Cirildo Valencio, U.S. Army, of Carrizo Springs, Texas. He will be buried on Aug. 4 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

Representatives from the Army met with Valencio’s next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

Valencio was assigned to Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division then occupying a defensive position near Unsan, North Korea in an area known as the “Camel’s Head.” On Nov. 1, 1950, parts of two Chinese Communist Forces divisions struck the 1st Cavalry Division’s lines, collapsing the perimeter and forcing a withdrawal. In the process, the 3rd Battalion was surrounded and effectively ceased to exist as a fighting unit. Valencio was one of the more than 350 servicemen unaccounted-for from the battle at Unsan.

In 2002, a joint U.S.-Democratic People’s Republic of Korea team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), excavated a burial site south of Unsan near the nose of the “Camel’s Head” formed by the joining of the Nammyon and Kuryong rivers. The team recovered human remains.

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 the 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) 699-1420 or (703) 509-1905.