.
A Ross County man is being laid to rest Wednesday after being returned home after being listed as an MIA in Korea for over half-a-century. U.S. Army Corporal Robert L. Bray of Chillicothe, was killed during the Korean War, but not accounted for until June 6th, 2019.
.
Bray was a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Regiment, fighting against members of the Korean People’s Army, when he went missing on July 20, 1950 in the vicinity of Taejon, South Korea. Absent of evidence of continued survival, the Department of the Army declared him deceased as of Dec. 31, 1953.
.
Public calling hours will be on Wednesday, November 6th at Smith-Ebright-Moore Funeral Home in Bainbridge between 9am to 1pm. A funeral service will be held at the funeral Home at 1 pm officiated by an Army Chaplain. Following this service, CPL Bray will be transported to the Bainbridge Cemetery where Full Military Honors will be accorded by the United States Army.
.
According to historical reports, the 565th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company recovered a set of remains initially designated as Unknown X-704 Tanggok from a common grave in the Kujong-ni, South Korea. On March 31, 1955, the remains were declared unidentifiable and were subsequently transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu and were interred as an Unknown.
.
In August 2018, following thorough historical and scientific analysis, X-704 Tanggok was disinterred from the Punchbowl and sent to the laboratory for analysis. To identify Bray’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental, anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.