Officials recently released information identifying the remains of a 22-year-old sergeant listed as missing in action during the Korean War.
Sgt. Richard E. Crotty, of Geneva, Illinois, served with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division on Sept. 1, 1950 when he was reported missing in action following fighting near Yongsan, South Korea, according to a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency release.
Crotty’s was never listed as a prisoner of war, according to the release. The Army made a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1953, according to the release. His remains were determined to be unrecoverable in January 1956.
Though a set of remains were recovered near Yongsan in July 1951. Officials at the time believed the remains were Crotty’s and designated as X-1667 Tanggok and buried in the United Nations Cemetery Tanggok that same month.
The Central Identification Unit Kokura, housed in Japan, reexamined X-1667 in March 1955 and made more attempts in April 1955. Experts declared the remains unidentifiable and had them transported with other unidentified remains to the National Memorial of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Crotty’s next of kin contacted the Army in 2017 and requsted the disinterment of the X-1667 remains. The remains were disinterred in September 2018 and transported for further analysis.
Agency scientists used dental, anthropological and isotope analysis to identify the remains’ as Crotty’s, officially designated as such on Feb. 3, 2023.
As one of the “unknowns,” Crotty’s name was recorded on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl. Once identified, a rosette is placed next to names previously listed as unrecovered or unknown.
Crotty’s remains are scheduled for burial in Peoria, Illinois on April 29, 2023.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
To see the most up-to-date statistics on DPAA recovery efforts for those unaccounted for from the Korean War, go to the Korean War fact sheet on the DPAA website at: https://www.dpaa.mil/Resources/Fact-Sheets/Article-View/Article/569610/progress-on-korean-war-personnel-accounting/
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, or find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.
