(DC Bureau) — Two families of U.S. servicemembers who died during the Korean War have fought for years to get their loved ones' names on the Korean War Wall of Remembrance, with no success. Terri Mumley's grandfather, Aviation Machinist's Mate Lloyd Smith Jr., and Megan Marx's stepfather, Ensign Dwight Angell, were killed following a surveillance mission over the South China Sea. It's been 72 years since the Korean War ended, and the bodies of Angell and Smith have never been recovered. "My mother has fought. My great-grandmother did — his mother, to get information about what really happened, where they are. We just — you only get so far," Mumley said. The Korean War Wall of Remembrance opened in 2022, without the names of Angell and Smith, as Marx and Mumley discovered. "Not having them on the wall is a sign of disrespect," said Marx, whose mother was married to Angell before Marx was born. The National Park Service manages the memorial. In a statement, the Department of the Interior said, "The Department of Defense is responsible for determining the names that appear on the memorial." The Department of Defense, which the Trump administration calls the Department of War, did not respond to Nexstar's request for comment. Hal Barker and his brother, Ted, run the Korean War Project. Barker said the Pentagon used a narrow definition of the Korean War Theatre to come up with the list of names for the memorial. The Department of Defense Instruction for Korean War Deaths limits the war theatre to Korea's territorial limits and the surrounding bodies of water. Barker said that's incorrect. "At the beginning of the war, they issued a special reconnaissance mission maps and designated the area from Taiwan all the way to Russia as part of the Korean War," Barker said. Mumley and Marx say they've fought for the Department of Defense to recognize their loved ones' deaths as occurring during the Korean War. Mumley said she reviewed a Department of Defense Memo from 2024 that said "no further action will be taken on this case." "They sent back a letter saying, we're not going to revisit this with you anymore. Like, who tells a Gold Star Family that we're not going to revisit this with you anymore?" Mumley said. Marx and Mumley said, after meeting with officials from the Pentagon earlier this year, they may have movement, and new department leaders may be willing to reconsider. "We need to strike while the iron is hot," Marx said. Marx and Mumley said they're hoping to connect with other families in the same situation to bring changes to the Korean War Wall of Remembrance.