BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— The remains of an Alabama soldier who has been missing since 1950, when his unit was attacked during the Korean War, have been identified and will be buried in Georgia, the Pentagon said Friday.
DNA analysis helped determine that remains of Army Cpl. Henry L. Helms of the northeast Alabama community of Collbran were among those turned over by North Korea after a summit between then-President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2018, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
Helms was 24 and serving with Company D, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, when was reported missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950. His unit was attacked by enemy forces near the Chosin Reservoir in what is now North Korea, and his body couldn’t be recovered after the battle.
The agency said it used circumstantial evidence and anthropological analysis besides DNA comparisons to determine that remains were those of Helms. He will be buried in Ringgold, Georgia, on May 22, the Pentagon said in a news release.
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