Remains of Soldier Killed During Korean War to be Buried at Saratoga National Cemetery

SARATOGA — Army Cpl. Clifford S. Johnson, a native of Valatie, was a member of Headquarters Battery, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action Dec. 6, 1950, when his unit was attacked by enemy forces near the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea. Following the battle, his remains could not be recovered. He was 20 years old.

Almost seventy years later, Johnson’s remains were turned over by North Korea on July 27, 2018. He was accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on April 16, 2020, after his remains were identified using circumstantial and material evidence and mitochondrial and autosomal DNA analysis.

Johnson’s remains are scheduled to be interred at Saratoga National Cemetery May 20. 

Johnson’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for. More than 7,600 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War.

For additional information about Cpl. Johnson, go to www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/2157589/soldier-accounted-for-from-korean-war-johnson-c.

To learn more about the Department of Defense’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or call (703) 699-1420/1169.