The remains of a Korean War soldier who died as a prisoner of war have been positively identified and will be buried in his home state of Ohio, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
Army Cpl. Clark E. Worline was reported missing in action on Nov. 26, 1950, according to the agency. He was a member of C Company, 2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion, 8th U.S. Army. His unit was fighting the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces near Sinjang, North Korea, at the time of his disappearance.
There are no records or eyewitness accounts which verify Worline was a POW, but it was common for prisoners not to know other captives who died.
After the United States signed an armistice with North Korea in 1953, officials decided the sides would exchange the remains of deceased service members for repatriation, an effort that was named Operation Glory. United Nations forces recovered and returned thousands of remains, including those from POW Camps, POW march routes, and isolated burials from battlefield losses.
Worline’s remains were among dozens from Prisoner of War Camp no. 5 that were buried as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also called the Punchbowl, in Honolulu in 1956.
In 2019, those remains were disinterred and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for analysis. Scientists identified Worline’s remains using dental and anthropological analysis in addition to circumstantial evidence.
A rosette will be placed by Worline’s name on the Courts of the Missing in the Punchbowl, and his remains will be buried in Ohio on a date not yet determined.
