Ritchie County POW from Korean War identified

SMITHVILLE, W.Va. (WBOY) — After about 73 years, a man from Ritchie County, West Virginia, who was taken as a prisoner of war during the Korean War has been identified, and is set to be buried in his hometown.

U.S. Army Sgt. Kester B. Hardman, 22, of Smithville was assigned to M Company, 3rd Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division in 1950. Hardman’s unit “engaged in intensive combat actions” near Sunchon in North Korea, according to a press release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).

After the 1953 armistice, North Korean forces claimed Hardman died in the spring of 1951 while in captivity at POW Camp 5, on the Pyoktong Peninsula, the DPAA said.

Hardman’s remains were later identified among those exchanged during Operation GLORY, an exchange of war dead that mostly included U.S. Marines, but also included POWs from Camp 5, the DPAA said. DPAA scientists used used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison and circumstantial evidence. Scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis, the DPAA said.

Hardman’s remains had been buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, where his name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing. Now that he has been accounted for, the DPAA said a rosette will be placed next to his name.

His remains were identified on May 2, 2024, and the DPAA sent a press release about his identification on Friday, following his family’s receipt of a full briefing of his identification.

Hardman is set to be buried in Smithville on a date that has yet to be determined. For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at 800-892-2490.

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