The Patriot Files Forums  

Go Back   The Patriot Files Forums > Veterans > POW/MIA

Post New Thread  Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 09-26-2022, 05:16 AM
Boats's Avatar
Boats Boats is offline
Senior Member
 

Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Sauk Village, IL
Posts: 21,783
Post Soldier Who Went Missing During Korean War Accounted for

Soldier Who Went Missing During Korean War Accounted for
By: Mark Pratt - Associated Press & Military.com News 09-25-22
Re: https://www.military.com/daily-news/...accounted.html

Photo link: https://images03.military.com/sites/...?itok=cvoM0aWS
v
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Defense Department shows Cpl. Joseph J. Puopolo. The solider from Massachusetts who went missing during the Korean War and was later reported to have died in a prisoner of war camp has been accounted for using modern scientific techniques, military officials said. Puopolo, 19, of East Boston, was accounted for in August, according to a statement Friday, Sept. 23, 2022, from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. (U.S. Defense Department via AP)

BOSTON (AP) — A soldier from Massachusetts who went missing during the Korean War and was later reported to have died in a prisoner of war camp has been accounted for using modern scientific techniques, military officials said.

Army Cpl. Joseph J. Puopolo, 19, of East Boston, was accounted for in August, according to a statement Friday from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

It was the news his family — including his now 99-year-old sister Elizabeth Fiorentini — has been awaiting for decades, Fiorentini’s grandson and Puopolo’s grandnephew, Richard Graham, said in a telephone interview Saturday.

“We have all heard about him, and we all knew of him, and we all knew he was a war hero. We always hoped we'd find him,” he said. “But I never thought my grandmother would be here for it.”

Fiorentini had not seen her brother since she was in her 20s, and had mixed reactions on hearing the news that his remains had been identified.

“In her mind it was like he died again,” Graham said.

Puopolo, an artilleryman with the 8th Army, was reported missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950, after his unit attempted to withdraw from Kunu-ri, North Korea, following the Battle of Ch’ongch’on, according to the military. Four former POWs reported in 1953 that Puopolo had died at a POW camp in February 1951.

After the war, the sides exchanged remains, but not all could be identified and those were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, the agency said.

A set of previously unidentified remains were disinterred in December 2019, and identified as being those of Puopolo through dental and anthropological analysis, mitochondrial DNA analysis and circumstantial evidence, the agency said.

The family hopes to hold a burial service for Puopolo in another month or so either in a family plot in Malden or the veterans' cemetery in Bourne, Graham said. Puopolo was one of six children, all of whom had large families of their own, and as many as 60 or 70 relatives might show.

“He has not been forgotten,” Graham said.

Related Topics: Military Headlines - Veterans - Prisoners of War - POW - Korean War
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personal note:

Welcome home Corp (Army Cpl. Joseph J. Puopolo)
Your family has been missing waiting for you to come home.
May they find peace knowing you're back and may you
now Rest In Peace on American soil.
-
We also thank you for your service during the Korean War.
-
__________________
Boats

O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
sendpm.gif Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

All times are GMT -7. The time now is 01:55 AM.


Powered by vBulletin, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.