Korean War veteran from Missouri to be buried

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- The remains of a soldier from Hannibal will be buried 66 years after he went missing during the Korean War.

Harold L. Curtis was 17 when he joined the military. He went missing during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir in late 1950, the Hannibal Courier-Post reported.

During the battle, Chinese forces surrounded Curtis' company. While American soldiers attempted to escape, many were killed or held in prisoner-of-war camps.

In 1951, the U.S. military changed Curtis' status from missing to dead after his name didn't appear on any POW list given by North Korea or China.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, a repatriated American soldier said during a 1953 prisoner-of-war exchange Curtis had died near the Chosin Reservoir in December 1950.

"We knew he had died," Curtis' sister, Bonnie Stevens, said. "We were just never sure if he had been taken prisoner or killed in action. My mother and I gave blood samples years ago for them to take our DNA."

Curtis' remains were returned to the U.S. in 1993, but it took several years for a positive identification.

Scientists matched his DNA with Stevens, as well as with their mother.

"It gave me a sense of closure, but it did open up sadness," Stevens said of her only sibling.

Burial is scheduled for Dec. 23.