KANSAS CITY, Mo. – More than three years ago, the Republic of Singapore hosted a much anticipated summit between the leaders of the United States and North Korea, the first meeting of its kind ever in the history of the two nations.
While the years following the 2018 North Korea-United States Singapore Summit would prove the meeting did little to quell the stern statements and military posturing that have endured for more than half a century, it did produce some semblance of closure – the relinquishment of 55 boxes of remains, purportedly of American service members killed during the Korean War.
According to Battles of the Korean War, the VFW’s official history of the conflict, a total of 36,576 Americans lost their lives on the Korean peninsula by the time the cease fire was signed on July 27, 1953. While the Korean Armistice Agreement would officially bring an end to more than three years of hostilities, the lack of a formal peace treaty means the Korean War is technically still on-going, 68 years after the ink dried in Panmunjom.
While it has been an uneasy truce with North Korea, returning the remains of even one of the more than 7,500 unaccounted for U.S. service members is a sign of hope of potential peace in the future.
On July 8, 2021, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced they identified and accounted for the remains of Army Pfc. Louis N. Crosby, 18, of Orangeburg, South Carolina, reported missing in action on Dec. 1, 1950, near the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea. Crosby’s remains were contained in one of the 55 boxes turned over to the U.S. following the 2018 summit in Singapore.
Today, the VFW salutes the incredible bravery, service, and sacrifice of U.S. veterans of the Korean War, as well as those, like Pfc. Crosby, who gave everything in defense of generations of people living on freedom’s frontier.
Welcome home and thank you for all you’ve done.