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Manuel Quintana’s remains have finally come home to his family after being unidentified since the Korean War.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced on May 12, 2017 that the remains of Army Pfc. Manuel M. Quintana, 19, from Klondyke, Arizona have been identified and will be returned to family members for burial. Manuel enlisted in September 1949 and was reported as Missing in Action on July 27, 1950 near Hadong, Korea after his unit was overwhelmed by North Korean forces.
Manuel’s remains were escorted to Boulder City, Nevada where he was buried at the Southern Nevada Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery with full military honors on May 19, 2017. Manuel’s sister, Mary Moreno and several nieces, great nieces and nephews were in attendance. Staff Sergeant Nicholas Mapes, grandson of Mary Moreno, presented her with the flag from Manuel’s coffin.
Manuel Munoz Quintana was born in Klondyke, now a ghost town, on Dec. 22, 1930. He was the youngest of five children born to Gertrude Munoz and Emanuel Quintana. Manuel’s father died when he was one year old. His mother later married Nick Baker and three more children were born. The family lived on a farm in Klondyke and later moved to Safford where Manuel graduated high school shortly before joining the Army.
It was a long journey for Manuel’s return to his family, spanning 67 years and thousands of miles. The journey began when the remains of an American soldier were found in a shallow grave along the Chinuju-Hadong Highway in December 1950. The remains were then buried at the Masan United Nations Military Cemetery as Unknown X-183. They were later exhumed and transported to the U.S. Army’s Central Identification Unit in Kokura, Japan for identification. In 1955 the remains were determined to be “unidentifiable” and moved to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific also known as Punchbowl in Honolulu, Hawaii.
In May 2016, the body was exhumed and sent to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System. Thanks to modern DNA analysis, Manuel was positively identified and arrangements began for his return home.
According to the DPAA, there are 82,547 Americans remaining as missing from World War II, the KOREAN War, Vietnam, Cold War, the Gulf Wars and other conflicts.
John Hernandez lives in Oracle. He is retired and enjoys writing and traveling. He is active in the Oracle Historical Society. He covers numerous public events, researches historical features and writes business/artist profiles.
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