Soldier vanished during Korean War. 70 years later, remains will return home to Georgia
The remains of a Georgia soldier who went missing during the Korean War weren’t identified for 70 years, officials said.
Now he has a name, and his body is headed back home.
Army Sgt. 1st Class James L. Wilkinson, of Bowden, was accounted for Dec. 5, 2022, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced July 26 in a news release.
Wilkinson, 19, was initially reported “missing in action” when fighting broke out near the Naktong River in South Korea in September 1950, the agency said in the release.
“Due to the fighting, his body could not be recovered at that time, and there was never any evidence that he was a prisoner of war,” the release said.
The missing soldier was presumed dead in December 1953.
Years later, the Army started recovering remains from the area — including a set designated “Unknown X-1588,” the agency said. It was sent to the Central Identification Unit-Kokura in Japan for analysis, but couldn’t be identified at the time.
The remains later arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii, to be buried alongside other Korean War Unknowns in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, according to the release.
In 2019, “Unknown X-1588” was among 652 others missing from the Korean War exhumed at the cemetery with hopes of learning who they were, the agency said.
Wilkinson’s remains were finally accounted for using “dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison,” according to officials.
His name was recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu cemetery, alongside a rosette to designate that he’s now accounted for.
Now, Wilkinson’s body will make the long trip back to the Peach State, the agency said. He’s set to be buried Sept. 16 in Barrow County.
Barrow County is about 60 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.
This story was originally published July 26, 2023 at 3:59 PM with the headline "Soldier vanished during Korean War. 70 years later, remains will return home to Georgia."