History
Remains of Korean War soldier to be buried Sept. 3 in Colorado
Stars and Stripes
August 20, 2024
U.S. Army Corporal John A. Spruell, 19, of Cortez, Colo., was killed during the Korean War. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
The remains of Army Cpl. John A. Spruell, who was killed during the Korean War, will be interred Sept. 3 at Cortez Cemetery in Cortez Colo.
Spruell will be buried with full military honors.
Spruell, a native of Cortez, was a member of Battery B, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division. He went missing in action Dec. 6, 1950, at age 19, after his unit engaged in intensive combat actions in the vicinity of Hagaru-ri, South Korea, during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir.
Spruell was accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Aug. 11, 2023, after the remains of Korean War unknowns were exhumed in July 2018 from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu — also known as the Punchbowl — for identification. Spruell’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Just under 7,500 Americans are still unaccounted-for from the Korean War, according to the DPAA. Many of the missing are believed to be in a “non-recoverable” category.
Overall, roughly 280,000 American service members remain unaccounted for.