Macabebe Philippines

Maximiano Tubig LacSamana, age 37, from Macabebe, Philippines.

Service era: Korea

Date of death: Sunday, December 3, 1950
Death details: On September 30, 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant Maximiano Tubig Lacsamana, missing from the Korean War. Sergeant Lacsamana entered the U.S. Army from the Philippines and served with I Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Regimental Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division. He went missing in action on December 3, 1950, when his unit was attacked by Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) near Hagaru-ri, North Korea, during the Battle of the Chosen Reservoir. Specific details regarding his loss were unknown, but he was later found to have been killed during this action. His remains were not recovered at the time of his loss, nor were his remains identified among those returned to U.S. custody immediately after the war. In 2018, the North Korean government repatriated 55 boxes containing the remains of American service members lost during the Korean War, with one box that contained remains recovered from the vicinity of the east side of the Chosin Reservoir and in an area consistent with SGT Lacsamana’s loss. DPAA analysts used laboratory analysis and circumstantial evidence to identify SGT Lacsamana from among these remains. Sergeant Lacsamana is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. To read the new release of Lacsamana’s identification, click here.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency