Jose Emanuel Rosario, age 20, from Saint Croix, Virgin Islands
Service era: Iraq
Military history: Troop C, 5Th Squadron, 7Th Cavalry (Tf Liberty), Fort Stewart, Ga
Date of death: Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Death details: Hostile; Balad, Iraq
Source: Department of Defense
Lawrence Lacanaria Arias, age 37, from Virgin Islands.
Spouse: Rebecca Poso Arias
Service era: Korea
Date of death: Tuesday, May 15, 1951
Death details: By mid-November 1950, U.S. and Allied forces had advanced to within approximately sixty miles of the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. On November 25, approximately 300,000 Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) “volunteers” suddenly and fiercely counterattacked after crossing the Yalu. The 2nd Infantry Division, located the farthest north of units at the Chongchon River, could not halt the CCF advance and was ordered to withdraw to defensive positions at Sunchon in the South Pyongan province of North Korea. As the division pulled back from Kunu-ri toward Sunchon, it conducted an intense rearguard action while fighting to break through well-defended roadblocks set up by CCF infiltrators. The withdrawal was not complete until December 1, and the 2nd Infantry Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in the process. Sergeant Lawrence Lacanaria Arias joined the U.S. Army from the Virgin Islands and was a member of the Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. On November 30, 1950, he was captured by enemy forces near Kunu-ri, North Korea, as his unit made its fighting withdrawal from the Chongchon River area. Sergeant Arias was marched to a prisoner of war camp in Pyoktong, North Korea, known as Camp 5, where he died in May 1951. He was not identified among remains returned to U.S. custody after the conflict’s ceasefire, and he is still unaccounted-for. Today, Sergeant Arias is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Associated Press (1953)