ELMIRA, N.Y. (WKBW) — The remains of a soldier from Buffalo who was killed in action more than 70 years ago will finally return home to be laid to rest.
The United States Army said Friday it has made funeral arrangements for Corporal Robert C. Agard's remains.
Agard was reported missing in action during a patrol near the village of Daebyeol-dong in Korea in July of 1950. He was never found and at the time, no remains that were identifiable as his were recovered.
A set of unidentified soldier's remains was found in the area in December 1950, along with the remains of two members of Agard's unit. The unidentified remains were later buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawai'i until 2019.
Those remains were disinterred in June 2019 as part of the Korean War Identification Project — an effort to determine the names of the men and women who were killed in action in Korea — and transferred to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Laboratory in Pearl Harbor, where a year later, scientists determined they were Agard via DNA testing and circumstantial evidence.
A funeral for Agard is set to be held on Friday, May 27, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Elmira.
