Remains of Korean War soldier from NY ID’ed after 71 years

ALBANY, N.Y. — The remains of a 19-year-old soldier from upstate New York killed during the Korean War have been identified more than seven decades after he was reported missing in action, defense officials announced Wednesday.

Army Sgt. Howard R. Belden of Hague, near the Vermont border, was accounted for on Oct. 14 and will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery at a date that has yet to be determined, according to the The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Belden was reported missing in action on Dec. 1, 1950, after his unit was attacked near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. More than 1,000 U.S. troops were killed during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, which unfolded over two frigid weeks.

In 2018, North Korea sent the United States 55 boxes they said contained the remains of American service members killed during the Korean War after President Donald Trump held a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

The DPAA has identified the remains of more than 75 service members from those 55 boxes, most from the Battle of Chosin Reservoir.

Scientists who identified Belden’s remains relied in part on DNA analysis, anthropological and isotope analysis and circumstantial evidence.

Belden was a member of Headquarters Company, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division.

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