PHOENIX — A Phoenix soldier who died during the Korean War in 1950 and has been unaccounted for ever since has finally been identified.
On Tuesday, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that U.S. Army Sergeant James B. Brock of Phoenix was accounted for on Jan. 29, 2025.
Nearly 75 years ago, in 1950, Brock was a member of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. Records report that his unit was forced to retreat from Hagaru-ri, North Korea, after the Battle of Jangjin (Chosin) Reservoir, and Brock was reported missing in action.
Officials say the U.S. Army did not receive any information during or after the war to indicate Brock was ever held as a prisoner of war.
Three years later, in 1953, North Korea returned remains recovered from Changsong, also known as Prisoner of War Camp #1, to the United Nations Command, as part of Operation Glory. However, Brock could not be identified as any of them.
In 1954, a presumptive finding of death was issued. Then, in late 1956, all unidentified remains, including one designated X-15881, were buried as Unknowns in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, in Honolulu, Hawaii, known as the Punchbowl.
In 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to dig up more than 600 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl.
In 2022, Unknown X-15881 was dug up, as part of Phase Four of the Korean War Disinterment Plan, and the remains were sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis. The remains were identified as Brock using advanced DNA testing.
Brock's family has received a full briefing on his identification.
Officials say Brock's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. They say a rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Brock will be buried in a location and on a date yet to be determined.
Brock’s personnel profile can be viewed here.
