Army Sgt. Kester Hardman accounted for from Korean War

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced recently that U.S. Army Sgt. Kester B. Hardman, 22, of Smithville, West Virginia, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for May 2, 2024.

In Dec. 1950, Hardman was assigned to M Company, 3rd Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action after his unit engaged in intensive combat actions in the vicinity of Sunchon, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Following the armistice in 1953, North Korean forces claimed Hardman died in the spring of 1951 while in captivity at POW Camp 5, on the Pyoktong Peninsula. His remains were not identified during or immediately after the war.

Following the war, in 1954, the opposing nations reached an agreement to exchange war dead, the execution of which was known as Operation GLORY. One set of Unknown remains, designated X-13467 OP GLORY, was reportedly recovered from the 1st Marine Division Cemetery at Yudam-ni, D.P.R.K.

While most losses interred at Yudam-ni were primarily Marines, several other sets of remains were identified as POWs who had died at Camp 5. Investigators could not identify X-13467 at the time, and they were then sent to Hawaii where they were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

In July 2018, DPAA personnel exhumed Unknown Remains X-13467 from the Punchbowl and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory, for analysis.

To identify Hardman’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Hardman’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.

Hardman will be buried in Smithville, West Virginia, on a date to be determined.