Gerald Ivan Shepler

Korean War
Service #15419662
UnitK CO 187 ABN INF REGT
RankCorporal U.S. Army
Date of DeathNovember 29 1950
StatusRecovered
Memorialized
Courts of the Missing
Court
6
Combat Infantryman Badge
Korean Service Medal
National Defense Service Medal
Purple Heart
Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation
Republic of Korea War Service Medal
United Nations Service Medal
Corporal Shepler was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.
Notes

Corporal Shepler was a member of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 187th Airborne Infantry Regimental Combat Team. He was seriously wounded by the enemy in North Korea on November 29, 1950 and died of those wounds later that day. His remains were not recovered. Between 1990 and 1994, North Korea returned 208 boxes of commingled human remains to the United States, which we now believe to contain the remains of at least 600 U.S. servicemen who fought during the war. North Korean documents included in the repatriation indicate that some of the remains were recovered from the vicinity where Shepler was believed to have died. DNA analysis and circumstantial evidence were used in the identification of his remains in 2016. His name remains permanently inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

rosetta medal
When an individual’s remains have been accounted for by the U.S. Department of Defense, a rosette is placed next to the name on the Wall/Tablet/Court of the Missing to mark that the person now rests in a known gravesite.