CENTRALIA, Ill. – After missing for more than 70 years, the remains of a Centralia, Illinois, native who died during the Korean War are finally coming home.
Following the Singapore Summit between former United States President Donald Trump and North Korea Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un in June 2018, North Korea turned over 55 boxes containing the remains of American service members killed during the Korean War.
The remains were brought to the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on Aug. 1, 2018, and turned over to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) to be identified.
Scientists from the DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System painstakingly used dental, anthropological, and isotope records, as well as circumstantial evidence, and DNA analysis to identify the remains. In August 2022, they were successfully identified the remains of Army Master Sgt. Merritt Leroy Wynn.
Wynn served in K Company, 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment in the 25th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Nov. 26, 1950, following an attack on his unit’s position just east of Unsan, North Korea. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Silver Star that same day.
The U.S. Department of Defense said there was no evidence that Wynn was ever a prisoner of war, and that his remains were declared “nonrecoverable” on Jan. 16, 1956. However, Wynn’s obituary from Macz Funeral Homes indicates a witness, who was a POW with Wynn, reported the master sergeant died while in captivity.
Wynn’s name was added to the American Battle Monuments Commission‘s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. Now that his remains have been recovered and identified, a rosette will be placed next to Master Sgt. Wynn’s name to show that he’s been accounted for.
Those who wish to offer condolences to Wynn’s family can do so online at MaczFuneralHomes.com or on the funeral home’s Facebook page.
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