Korean War soldier from Indianapolis finally accounted for after 70 years
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A Korean War soldier from Indianapolis was finally accounted for in June after being killed in North Korea in 1950.
Army Master Sgt. Wallace Simmons Jr., 36, served as a member of Headquarters Battery, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division.
According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Simmons died on Dec. 6, 1950, when his unit battled enemy forces near the Chosin Reservoir in central North Korea.
His remains weren’t recovered until July 2018 following a summit between then-President Donald Trump and Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un the month prior.
North Korean officials turned over 55 boxes they said contained “remains of American service members killed during the Korean War.” The remains arrived at the DPAA laboratory at the Pearl Harbor-Hickam base in Hawaii in Aug. 2018.
To identify his remains, the DPAA says scientists used anthropological and isotope analyses and circumstantial evidence. Other scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System assisted and used mitochondrial DNA analysis.
Simmons was finally accounted for on June 20, 2024. Officials say his name has been recorded at the National Memory Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with others still missing from the Korean War.
Simmons will be buried in Indianapolis. The funeral date has not been set.