(WKYT) – Gov. Andy Beshear has ordered the lowering of flags for a Kentucky WWII soldier that was not accounted for until Jan. 2026.
There will be a repatriation service for U.S. Army Private Mike McDowell at 10:30 a.m. on July 29 at the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery Central in Radcliff.
Gov. Beshear ordered flags on all state buildings to be lowered to half-staff from sunrise to sunset July 29 in honor of McDowell and encourages others throughout Kentucky to follow suit.
Pvt. McDowell was a member of a unit often referred to as Merrill’s Marauders. McDowell was reported killed in action during the Battle of Myitkyina in Burma, but records that survived the battle were limited.
There are few details about his loss and his remains were not identified until recent years. McDowell was declared non-recoverable in 1952.
The American Graves Registration Service led recovery operations in the Myitkyina area and recovered remains. Some were considered unidentifiable and buried as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.
In 2018, officials began a project the exhume remains from the Battle of Myitkyina. Some of these Unknowns were transferred to a laboratory for further analysis in 2021, where McDowell was later identified using modern forensic techniques.