19-year-old Colorado soldier killed during Korean War identified

The remains of a 19-year-old soldier from Cortez who went missing during the Korean War were identified in August, more than 70 years after his death.

The remains of Army Cpl. John A. Spruell were identified on Aug. 11, 2023, according to a Monday news release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Spruell joined the army on Oct. 14, 1949, the DPAA states. He was declared missing in action on Dec. 6, 1950 after his unit, Battery B, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division, fought in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir near Hagaru-ri, South Korea. The details of his death were not immediately recorded and there was no evidence he was a prisoner of war, the DPAA states.

In 1954, after the end of the Korean War, the opposing nations agreed to exchange remains of military members, a project known as Operation Glory. Spruell’s remains were recovered near the Chosin Reservoir, where his battalion had been fighting, but could not be positively identified, according to the release. His unidentified remains were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, nicknamed the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In 2018, the DPAA created the Korean War Disinterment Project to disinter more than 600 unidentified remains from the Korean War from the memorial cemetery. In March 2021, Spruell’s remains were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis, where scientists used chest radiograph comparison, dental, anthropological and DNA analysis and circumstantial evidence to make a positive identification.

Since 1982, the remains of over 450 Americans killed in the Korean War have been identified and returned to their families. Over 7,000 American soldiers are still unaccounted for, according to the DPAA.