Killed in Korean War, Army Pvt. Jimmy D. Smith accounted for

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced recently that U.S. Army Pvt. 1st Class Jimmy D. Smith, 21, of Muskogee, Oklahoma, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Sept. 11, 2023.

In July 1950, Smith was a member of Medical Company, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Eighth U.S. Army. He was killed in action after his unit engaged in defensive actions near Changchong-ni, Republic of Korea (South Korea), on July 30. Due to intense fighting, his body could not be recovered at that time, and there was never any evidence that he was a prisoner of war. With no further information the Army declared Smith killed in action on July 30, 1950.

In early 1951, the Army began recovering remains from the area and temporarily interred them at the United Nations Military Cemetery (UNMC) Pusan. One set of remains recovered during this period was designated Unknown X-340 Tanggok (X-340), recovered in the vicinity of Nae-dong, South Korea, near where Smith went missing. A tentative association was made between X-340 and Smith, but definitive proof could not be found, and X-340 was determined to be unidentifiable. The remains were sent to Hawaii where they were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl. DPAA disinterred Unknown X-340 as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Project and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.

To identify Smith’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Smith’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Pfc. Smith will be buried in Kingsburg, California, on a date to be determined.