Idaho Falls POW to be laid to rest in Nebraska

An Idaho Falls native will be buried September 19 in Silver Creek, Nebraska.

Army Master Sergeant Leonard K. Chinn was killed during the Korean War. His remains were included among 33 boxes of remains of servicemen that were turned over to American officials by North Korea on December 14, 1993. According to the U.S. Army, North Korean documents indicated some of the remains were recovered from the vicinity where Prisoners of War from Chinn’s unit were believed to have died.

The Army used a variety of DNA testing procedures to officially identify Chinn’s remains. He was officially declared “accounted for” on July 16, 2018.

In late 1950, Chinn was a member of Company D, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. His unit was fighting persistent Chinese attacks in North Korea. Chinn was reportedly captured by enemy forces on December 1, 1950 and held at several temporary prisoner of war camps before being marched northwest to POW Camp 5 Complex, North Korea.

Repatriated American POW’s reported that Chinn died on April 5, 1951.

Currently, 7,683 Americans are still unaccounted for from the Korean War. Identifications continue to be made from remains previously returned by Nort Korean officials or recovered from North Korea by American recovery teams.

Chinn’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with others who went missing during the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name there to indicate he has been accounted for.