At Long Last, Old Photo Helps ID Korean War Soldier

An old photo and a once-sidelined forensic technique have finally put a name to Korean War remains that had confounded modern science. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says it has identified US Army Sgt. Roger Duquesne, a 25-year-old World War II veteran who went missing in action on Sept. 3, 1950, while serving with the 25th Infantry Division near Masan, South Korea, reports CBS News. Remains recovered that month near the Naktong River were buried in Hawaii as unknown in 1956 and later exhumed, but DNA testing, dental comparisons, and chest X-ray analysis all failed to produce a match.

Investigators then turned to a process known as craniofacial superimposition, overlaying an image of Duquesne—smiling in a dress uniform cap—onto the skull. The method isn't new, but advances in video technology have greatly improved it. By replicating the camera angle and distance using the cap as a reference, they first aligned the bones with Duquesne's features. As a post from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency explains in detail, a distinctive canine tooth and the shadow it cast proved key. Duquesne was formally accounted for in September. The DPAA calls the case proof that older techniques, refined with newer tools, can resolve decades-old mysteries. About 7,000 Americans from the Korean War remain unaccounted for.