Korean War remains identified as SF resident

The remains of a U.S. Army soldier missing since the Korean War have been identified as belonging to a San Francisco resident.

Private First Class James J. Leonard was reported killed in action while defending the village of Yongdong, South Korea, on July 25, 1950. He was 22.

In June 1952, a military unit that specializes in finding and registering soldiers’ graves conducted searches in the area surrounding Yongdong but were not able to identify Leonard’s.

Roughly 65 years later, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense Agency for Killed in Action Recovery and Identification found his remains on March 30, 2017.

They were sent to a lab and identified using dental and anthropological analysis, according to the U.S. Department of Defense’s POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Leonard’s remains will be buried with full military honors on Tuesday, and his family will receive a letter of condolence from Gov. Jerry Brown, who has ordered flags flown at half-staff over the state Capitol in Leonard’s memory.