Remains returned by North Korea in 2018 help identify missing soldier

Officials recently identified the remains of a 24-year-old Army sergeant killed during the Korean War amid the remnants in 55 boxes turned over by North Korea to the United States in 2018.

Sgt. Charles Garrigus, of Terra Haute Indiana, will be buried in Greenwood Indiana on a date not yet determined, according to a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency release.

Garrigus served as a member of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. Unit leadership reported Garrigus as missing in action on Dec. 1, 1950 during a battle near the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea, according to the release.

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Searchers found no remains immediately after the battle nor any evidence that enemy forces held Garrigus as a prisoner of war.

The sergeant’s remains came to U.S. possession in a July 27, 2018 following a June summit between then-President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. North Korean officials transferred 55 boxes “purported to contain the remains of American service members killed during the Korean War, according to the release.

Those remains arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on Aug. 1, 2018.

The account agency laboratory then processed the remains for identification.

The American Battle Monuments Commissions Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu contains an etching of Garrigus’s name, according to the release.

A rosette will be placed next to the fallen sergeant’s name on the memorial, indicating he has been accounted for.

For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.