WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Sgt. Cresenciano Garcia, Jr., 22, of Laredo, Texas, died as a prisoner of war during the Korean War, was accounted for Apr. 25, 2023.
In August 1950, Garcia was a member of Headquarters Company, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was reported missing in action on Dec. 1 during a battle just south of Kunu-ri, South Korea. His remains could not be immediately recovered and was officially declared dead on or around February 28, 1951 in POW Camp 5, in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K.).
In 1954 the opposing nations reached an agreement to exchange war dead, the execution of which was known as Operation GLORY. Remains were sent to the Central Identification Unit, Kokura, Japan, for processing and identification. One set of Unknown Remains, designated X-14189, was reportedly recovered from Ch’angsong (Camp 1), D.P.R.K., and could not be identified after analysis. While that location is inconsistent with Sergeant Garcia’s reported location of death at Pyoktong (Camp 5), it is possible that remains from Camp 1 and 5 exhumations were inadvertently mixed when delivered during Operation GLORY. The remains were later transported with all the unidentified Korean War remains and buried as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1956.
On Dec. 9, 2019, DPAA personnel exhumed Unknown Remains X-14189 for further scientific testing and analysis. Further research by a DPAA historian and forensic anthropologist determined the remains could possibly be associated with Garcia. The remains were disinterred and sent to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis.
To identify Garcia’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Garcia’s 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.
Garcia will be buried in Laredo, Texas on Oct. 14, 2023.
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 Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.
Garcia’s personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000bRB6yEAG.