Sgt Thomas Joseph O'Brien, a native of Emly, Co Tipperary, who was killed in October 1950 during the Korean War, is set to be buried in his native Ireland on June 29.
The Tipperary funeral for O'Brien comes nearly two years after he was "accounted for" by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).
O'Brien was one of seven children born to Michael and Sarah O'Brien on the family farm Ballyvistea, near the village of Emly, Tipperary Live reports.
In 1947, he emigrated to New York City at the age of 20 and joined the US Army in hopes of getting his green card.
By late 1950, O’Brien was a member of Headquarters Battery, 90th Field Artillery Battalion, Division Artillery, 25th Infantry Division.
According to the DPAA, O'Brien was reported killed in action on October 26, 1950, after his unit was attacked by Korean People’s Army (KPA) forces while moving through the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea).
O'Brien's mother was notified that her son was missing in action (MIA) and presumed dead, Tipperary Live reports. Before she died in 1957, she had had her son's name engraved on the stone at the family plot in St. Ailbe’s graveyard in Emly in the hopes of his remains being returned.
O'Brien was one of 28 Irish-born service members who did not survive service in the Korean War.
In its initial identification announcement in 2024, the DPPA said: "Following the end of hostilities, there was no information to suggest O’Brien was being held as a prisoner of war, and there was no body recovered."
After O’Brien’s family received a full briefing on the identification, the DPAA shared further details in May 2025.
"In the late summer and fall of 1954, during Operation GLORY, North Korea returned remains reportedly recovered from various gravesites to the United Nations Command," the DPAA said.
"One set of remains, designated Unknown X-16829, was thought to be that of O’Brien, but a positive association could not be made at the time.
"X-16829 and all other unidentified Unknowns were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu."
Tipperary Live separately reports that, in the 1990s, DNA was initially collected and stored from O'Brien's brother Michael, who died in 2014.
In October 2003, Sgt Thomas Joseph O'Brien was among the two dozen Irish soldiers who were posthumously awarded US citizenship, recognized for giving "the ultimate sacrifice in the service of the U.S. military during the Korean War." Michael O'Brien attended the ceremony.
The DPAA's 2025 announcement continued: "In March and April 2018, DPAA personnel disinterred 13 Korean War Unknowns from the Punchbowl that were reportedly returned from the United Nations Military Cemetery Pyongyang during Operation GLORY. The remains were then sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
"To identify O’Brien’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA and mitochondrial genome sequencing analysis."
The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available allowed scientists to finally identify O'Brien.
The DPAA said at the time that a rosette would be placed next to O'Brien's name on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl to indicate that he had been accounted for.
Earlier this month, O'Brien's return home to Ireland began with a dignified transport at Los Angeles International Airport, with the support of the group Honoring Our Fallen.
Tipperary Live reports that the transfer was attended by O'Brien's American nieces, great-nephew, and family friends.
Following a cremation in Newhall, California, O'Brien's remains are being returned to Ireland. His niece Shivaun O'Brien, Michael's daughter, wrote on social media that her uncle's remains would be accompanied by his niece Pat Oakley, her husband Tim Oakley, and great-nephew Sean Oakley to Ireland.
O'Brien's remains are set to be buried on June 29 in the family plot at St. Ailbe’s in Emly, Co Tipperary, per his late mother's request. The funeral is set to be attended by his Irish nieces, nephews, great nieces, and great nephews.
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