The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced this week that U.S. Army Cpl. Delmer R. Grissom, 19, of Aransas, Texas, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for March 20, 2025.
Grissom's family recently received their full briefing on is identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In November 1950, Grissom was a member of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Nov. 8 in the vicinity of Parwon Myon, North Korea, after the Battle of the Ch’ongch’on River. After the war, returning prisoners reported that Grissom was held at Camp 5 in Pyoktong, North Korea and died on April 30, 1951.
In the fall of 1953, during Operation Glory, approximately 4,219 sets of remains, including those from temporary cemeteries, POW camp cemeteries, and isolated burials throughout North Korea, were exchanged. They were transported to the Central Identification Unit at Kokura, Japan, for examination but could not be positively identified. In late 1956, all unidentified remains, including remains recovered from Camp 5, designated X-14807, were buried as Unknowns in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In October 2019, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl. On Oct. 7, 2019, DPAA personnel disinterred Unknown X-14807 as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Grissom’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 analysis and mitochondrial genome sequencing data.
Grissom’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.
Grissom will be buried in San Antonio, Texas, on a date yet to be determined.