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Boyd was serving with Company A, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, when he was reported missing on January 25, 1951, near Chigu-ri, South Korea. As part of the programme, officials exhumed Unknown X-1642 in November 2023 and transferred the remains to a DPAA laboratory for further analysis. The renewed examination allowed specialists to compare the remains with records and evidence associated with service members who had been reported missing during the conflict.
His disappearance occurred during patrol operations as US forces fought to clear enemy troops from mountainous areas near Wonju. His remains were not recovered at the time, leaving his fate unresolved for decades.
Boyd’s identification was announced after his family received a full briefing from officials, allowing the agency to release further details about the case.
More than 7,000 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War, and the agency continues to investigate possible recovery sites and examine unidentified remains, according to the DPAA. His burial was scheduled for October 21, 2026, in Owings Mills, Maryland. For a soldier who disappeared at 17, the identification brings an official resolution to a case that remained open for more than 75 years.
Following his identification, the DPAA said a rosette would be placed next to his name at the Courts of the Missing to indicate that he had been accounted for. Investigators compare the circumstances in which unidentified remains were recovered with the documented disappearance of missing service members. When the evidence indicates a likely match, the remains can be exhumed for detailed forensic analysis. Boyd’s case forms part of a continuing US effort to account for military personnel who went missing in past conflicts. Boyd’s name had been recorded among the missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. The forensic work cannot recover the time his family spent without knowing what happened to him, but it has restored his identity to remains that had long been recorded only by a number.
The DPAA’s wider disinterment programme involves researchers examining historical records, personnel files, unit documents and reports of earlier investigations alongside laboratory findings.