(WXYZ) — The remains of a U.S. Army private from Hazel Park who was killed in the Korean War have been identified.
According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, U.S. Army Pfc. William A. Wheeler, 18, was accounted for on Aug. 27, 2024. Wheeler's family received their full briefing recently, so additional details are now being shared.
Wheeler was part of H Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division in September 1950 when he was reported missing in action while his unit was engaged in combat along the Naktong River in the vicinity of Yongsan, South Korea.
The exact circumstances surrounding his death are not known, but the Army said he was killed in action on Oct. 25, 1950.
In the fall of 1953, during Operation Glory, Chinese forces turned over remains to the United Nations Command, including one set designated as Unknown X-181.
Those remains were reportedly recovered from prisoner of war camps, U.N. cemeteries and isolated burial sites. They were eventually buried as an unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The remains of Unknown X-181 were disinterred as part of the Korean War Disinternment Project and sent to DPAA labs for analysis.
Scientists used dental and anthropological analysis to identify Wheeler's remains.
In October 2017, DPAA personnel disinterred Unknown X-181 as part of the Korean War Disinterment Project and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
Officials say Wheeler will be buried later this year in Troy.
