Photo: Courtesy of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
TAUNTON, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The remains of a solider from Taunton have been identified over 70 years after he went missing during the Korean War, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Tuesday.
Army Pfc. Joseph R. Travers was first reported missing in action on April 22, 1951, several months after his unit fought enemy forces near the village of Undam-Jang. He was 24.
Two years later, 3,598 Americans returned home as part of Operation Big Switch, a prisoner swap that resulted in the release of captives from both sides of the conflict. Some of the prisoners who returned home said Travers had died in Changsong, also known as Prisoner of War Camp #1.
In 1954, North Korea returned the remains of prisoners from Changsong to the United Nations. At the time, the military was not able to connect any of the remains to Travers.
Decades later, the Department of Defense proposed a plan to disinter the remains of 652 unidentified Korean War veterans buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, H.I. Travers' remains — labeled Unknown X-14197 — were identified on June 20, 2024.
The military waited until Travers' family received a full briefing on the situation before making the announcement publicly.
Scientists were able to identify Travers' remains using dental and anthropological analysis, X-ray imaging, and D.N.A. samples.
Travers' remains were the 11th to be identified this year. So far in 2025, the military has accounted for the remains of six World War II veterans, three Korean War veterans and two Vietnam War veterans.
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According to the Department of Defense, Travers will be buried in Taunton on a date to be determined.