Lost in 1950, Korean War Soldier to be Laid to Rest in Ohio

Official Statements

• U.S. Army Human Resources Command, November 10: “FORT KNOX, Ky. — The remains of U.S. Army 1st Lt. Raymond Banker Gilbert, missing from the Korean War, will be interred Nov. 14 at Union Cemetery in Steubenville, Ohio. Service and interment are being coordinated by Vinson Mortuary.

  Gilbert entered the service from Ohio and was a member of Battery B, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. On Dec. 1, 1950, he was reported missing in action after being wounded and captured by enemy forces during his unit's withdrawal from Kunu-ri to Sunchon, North Korea, during the battle of the Ch'ongch'on river.

  Through witness statements from repatriated American prisoners of war, the Army later determined that he died of his wounds as a prisoner of war on January 31, 1951, in the vicinity of Mining Camp, a POW camp.

  After the war, a set of remains, which had been recovered near Kunu-ri, was returned to U.S. custody as part of the 1954 exchange of war dead known as Operation Glory.

  The remains could not be identified at the time and were subsequently buried as an Unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

  On July 1, 2024, the set of remains was disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for scientific testing and possible identification. There, based on the laboratory analysis and total circumstantial and historical evidence the remains were identified as those of Gilbert.

  The Defense POW/Mia Accounting Agency accounted for Gilbert on June 4, 2026.

  For more information on DPAA’s efforts to locate and identify Gilbert, please visit: [https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000004qUVEAY](https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt00000004qUVEAY)

  U.S. Army Human Resources Command’s Past Conflict Repatriations Branch plays a vital role in the process of identifying, locating and contacting subsequent generation family members of Soldiers missing or killed in action during WWII and the Korean War to positively identify previously undiscovered or unknown remains.

  Media interested in covering and/or obtaining more information about the funeral and interment should contact Vinson Mortuary, 740-283-6555.”