Burmingham, Donald J.
Army Private 1st Class

Donald J. Burmingham, age 22, from Oswego County Memphis, New York .

Parents: Henry Burmingham

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Tuesday, September 12, 1950
Death details: On July 17, 2025, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of U.S. Army Cpl. Donald J. Burmingham, missing from the Korean War. Burmingham entered the Army from New York and served in F Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On Sept. 12, 1950, during a day-long battle for control of Hill 203 near Waegwan, South Korea, his unit temporarily seized the hill but was later pushed back by enemy forces. Burmingham was reported missing in action during this engagement. He was not seen to fall in battle and was not reported to be a prisoner of war. On March 27, 1951, American Graves Registration personnel recovered a set of remains near Waegwan. Unable to associate them with any missing soldier, the remains were declared unidentifiable on Jan. 16, 1956, and interred as a Korean War Unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. In December 2022, as part of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s Korean War Disinterment Project, this set of remains was disinterred and accessioned into the DPAA Laboratory for analysis. Using modern forensic techniques, scientists then identified Burmingham. He is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, which was updated in 2022 to include the names of the fallen.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Syracuse Herald Journal (1954)