WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Sgt. Lawrence J. Robidoux 22, of Cumberland, Rhode Island, who died as a prisoner of war during the Korean War, was accounted for Jan. 24, 2023.
In late 1950, Robidoux was a member of B Company, 1st Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Nov. 27, 1950, after his unit’s withdrawal from Ipsok in North Korea. In 1953, several POWs returned during Operation Big Switch reported Robidoux had been a prisoner of war and died in May 1951 at Prisoner of War Camp #5.
In the late summer and fall of 1954, during Operation Glory, North Korea returned remains reportedly recovered from Pyoktong, also known as Prisoner of War Camp #5, to the United Nations Command. However, the Central Identification Unit in Kokura, Japan, did not associate any repatriated remains with Robidoux, he was determined non-recoverable in January 1956.
In July 2018, the DPAA proposed a plan to disinter 652 Korean War Unknowns from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In December 2019, the DPAA disinterred Unknown X-14646, a set of remains returned during Operation Glory, as part of Phase Two of the Korean War Disinterment Plan and sent the remains to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, for analysis.
To identify Robidoux’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Robidoux’s name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, 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.
Robidoux will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on a date yet to be determined.
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 Accounting page on the DPAA website at: https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaFamWebKorean.
DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission and the United States Army for their partnership in this mission.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, or find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.
Robidoux’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000NKHCyEAP.