BLANCHESTER — A Korean War soldier will be laid to rest after being unaccounted for since 1956.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that U.S Army Corporal Earl E. Kibbey, 18, of Blanchester, Ohio, was accounted for Aug. 4, 2025, according to a spokesperson.
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News Center 7 previously reported that Kibbey’s remains returned home on Nov. 18, at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (CVG) International airport.
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In the late 1950s, Kibbey was a member of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division during the Korean War.
Kibbey was reported as missing in action on Dec. 3 during a major battle near Jangjin (Chosin) Reservoir, North Korea. The U.S Army issued a presumptive finding of death for Kibbey on Dec. 31, 1953.
Kibbey’s family just recently received a full briefing on his identification.
In 1954 during Operation Glory, North Korea turned over the remains to the United States, including one set known as Unknown X-15858.
These remains were recovered from prisoner of war camps, United Nations cemeteries, and isolated burial sites.
At the time, none of the remains could be identified as Kibbey, and he was declared as non-recoverable on Jan. 16, 1956.
The remains were buried as Unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl. Unknown X-15858 was disinterred on May 16, 2022, and sent to the DPAA lab for analysis.
To identify Kibbey’s remains, scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, and a chest radiograph. Scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis and genome sequences to identify him.
A rosette will be placed next to Kibbey’s name on the Court of the Missing at the Punchbowl to indicate that he has been accounted for.
He will be buried in Wilmington, Ohio, in November 2025.
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