NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A funeral is set for Saturday for a United States Army veteran whose remains were identified 71 years after he was reported missing during the Korean War.
Raymond Smith, 18, of Brooklyn, was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division during the Korean War.
He was reported missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950, “after his unit was attacked by enemy forces as they attempted to withdraw near the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea,” according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).
After the fighting ended, soldiers were unable to recover Smith’s remains.
His body remained in North Korean for decades.
Following a summit between former President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June 2018, Smith’s remains were returned to the United States, along with 54 other soldiers.
Scientists at the DPAA were able to positively identify Smith’s remains in late March 2021 using “anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.”
Smith will be buried at Green-Wood Cemetery on Sept. 25 in his hometown of Sunset Park.
His body was returned to New York City on Tuesday. His flag-draped coffin was met at John F. Kennedy International Airport by his sister, niece and nephew, according to a WABC-TV report.
A rosette will also be placed next to his name on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii to indicate Smith has now been accounted for.