The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced this month that U.S. Army Pvt. 1st Class Charles A. Dickman, 17, of Cashton, Wisconsin, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for June 20, 2023.
In July 1950, Dickman was a member of Mike Company, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He went missing in action after his unit engaged in defensive actions north of Chochiwon, South Korea, on July 12. 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. The Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 13, 1953.
After regaining control of Chochiwon in the fall of 1950, the Army began recovering remains from the area and temporarily interring them at the United Nations Military Cemetery (UNMC) Taejon. One set of remains recovered during this period was designated Unknown X-146 Taejon, recovered in the vicinity of the Kum River, South Korea. A tentative association was made between X-146 and Dickman, but definitive proof could not be found, and X-146 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. On July 15, 2019, DPAA disinterred Unknown X-146 Taejon as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Project and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory, for analysis.
To identify Dickman’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Dickman’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.
Dickman will be buried in Cashton, Wisconsin, on Oct. 21, 2023.
