Remains Of MA Soldier Killed In Korean War To Be Buried Saturday

MALDEN, MA — The body of a 19-year old soldier killed during the Korean War in 1951 will be buried in Malden this weekend a matter of weeks after scientists managed to identify his previously unidentified remains, according to his obituary.

State offices in Massachusetts will join in observances, lowering flags to half-staff, as noted by the Boston Police Department on Thursday.

Cpl. Joseph Puopolo was said to have died in a North Korean prison camp in 1951 a matter of months after he was reported missing after he and his unit attempted to withdraw from the Battle of Ch’ongch’on, according to the federal Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Puopolo’s remains were returned to the U.S. after the war. But officials were unable to identify him, leaving Puopolo to be buried as an unknown soldier at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Decades later, the accounting agency disinterred Puopolo through a larger effort to identify previously unknown remains using modern 21st century technology.

Those efforts proved successful, prompting an announcement from the accounting agency in late August.

READ: MA Soldier Missing During Korean War Identified

Puopolo’s remains came home to Boston on Tuesday, where they were escorted off a plane at Logan Airport to the Magrath Funeral Home in East Boston, according to the Boston Police Patrolman's Association.

Puopolo’s obituary was recently shared online ahead of a planned funeral mass in Boston this weekend.

He will be buried alongside his mother and younger brother at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden on Saturday, as noted in his obituary.

Puopolo’s family has asked for donations to the Wounded Warrior Project in lieu of flowers.