ROANOKE, Va. – A Roanoke Marine who was killed in the Korean War has been accounted for, 70 years after his death.
The Defense POW/MIA Account Agency announced on Wednesday that Marine Pfc. Henry Ellis of Roanoke, who was 22-years-old at his time of death, was accounted for on Sept. 29, 2020. His family only just received the full briefing on his identification, which is why his identity was not made public until now.
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Ellis was a member of the of Headquarters Company, 1st Service Battalion, 1st Marine Division. Officials said he was killed in action on Nov. 30, 1950, while defending his convoy near Koto-ri, North Korea.
According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, his body was not immediately recovered.
During Operation Glory in 1954, officials said the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea returned the remains of just over 4,200 people — 3,000 of which were determined to be Americans. Those remains were then identified, but none of them were determined to be Ellis, and he was declared non-recoverable on Jan. 16, 1956.
On Nov. 5, 2018, a team disinterred Ellis, who was unknown at the time and only identified as X-13631, and seven other unknowns as part of the Korean War Identification Project. Those remains were then transferred to a laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for analysis.
Scientists were able to identify Ellis by using dental and anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence as well as mitochondrial DNA analysis.
Ellis’ name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl in Honolulu, along with others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Ellis will be buried on Aug. 23, 2021 in Salisbury, North Carolina.