The remains of a Korean War soldier are finally coming home.
Private First Class Billy A. DeBord was a native of Miamisburg. DeBord was a member of F Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Eighth U.S. Army. He was reported missing in action July 25, 1950, at age 18, while his unit was engaged in battle with the North Korean People’s Army near Yongdong, South Korea.
Because of the fighting, his body was not recovered and there was never any evidence that he was a prisoner of war. The Army issued a presumptive finding of death for him on December 31, 1953.
On Oct. 21, 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency disinterred a set of remains designated Unknown X-945 for laboratory analysis from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii. The remains were buried in the Punchbowl after being recovered near Yongdong in 1951.
Those remains were exhumed in 2019, and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency finally identified them as Pfc. Debord earlier this year.
He will be interred at Highland Memorial Cemetery in Miamisburg on November 11. Swart Funeral Home of West Carrollton will perform graveside services preceding the interment.
More than 7,500 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War.