WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Sgt. Rosslyn Edward Gresens, 22, of Hill City, Minnesota, killed during the Korean War, was accounted for Feb. 28, 2025.
Gresens's family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.
In the summer of 1950, Sgt. Gresens was assigned to B Company, 3rd Engineer Combat Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. On Aug. 11, Sgt. Gresens was part of a patrol on the west side of the Naktong River. After a fire fight with enemy soldiers, the patrol withdrew east to the river, incurring heavy losses along the way. After crossing the river, members of the patrol were unable to locate Sgt. Gresens. He was last seen in a rice paddy providing cover fire. With no evidence of his continued survival, the U.S. Army issued a presumptive finding of death of Dec. 31, 1950.
In December 1951, soldiers from the 565th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company recovered the remains of two individuals thought to be American soldiers at the foot of a mountain near Yon-Dong Village. Those remains, along with material evidence were transported to the United Nations Military Cemetery in Tanggok, South Korea where they were designated Unknown X-5115 and Unknown X-5116. Following processing, the remains were forwarded to the Central Identification Unit in Kokura, Japan, for analysis. Unable to identify Unknown X-5115, in February 1956, those remains were transferred to National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu for interment.
In July 2021, DPAA disinterred Unknown X-5115 from the NMCP during phase three of the Korean War Disinterment Project. The remains were accessioned into the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Unknown X-5115 as Sgt. Gresens, DPAA scientists used anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis and mitochondrial genome sequencing data.
Sgt. Gresens’ name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Sgt. Gresens will be buried in Hill City, Minnesota in September 2025.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
To see the most up-to-date statistics on DPAA recovery efforts for those unaccounted for from the Korean War, go to the Korean War fact sheet on the DPAA website at: https://www.dpaa.mil/Resources/Fact-Sheets/Article-View/Article/569610/progress-on-korean-war-personnel-accounting/.
For additional information on the War Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving their country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, https://www.linkedin.com/company/dodpaa, https://www.instagram.com/dodpaa/, or https://x.com/dodpaa.
Gresens’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000niar6EAA.
Read Gresens's initial ID announcement here: Gresens.