11/4/2025 11:30:00 AM
The remains of two highly decorated U.S. Army service members were recognized in September for their actions and sacrifices.
According to the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, the remains of U.S. Army Sgt. Rosslyn Gresens, 22, killed during the Korean War, were interred at his final resting place Sept. 19 at the Macville Cemetery in Hill City, Minnesota.
Gresens was a member of Company B, 3rd Engineer Combat Battalion, 24th Infantry Division. On Aug. 11, 1950, Gresens was part of a patrol on the west side of the Naktong River. After a fire fight with enemy soldiers, the patrol broke contact and began moving east to the river, incurring heavy losses along the way. After crossing the river, survivors reported that Gresens was last seen providing fire but did not rejoin the withdrawing soldiers. With no evidence of his survival, the Army issued a presumptive finding of death on Dec. 31, 1950.
Gresens was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions and promoted to Sergeant.
In addition, he was awarded the Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Korean Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Republic of Korea Presidential Citation, Republic of Korea War Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, the Army Presidential Unit Citation, and the Army Good Conduct Medal.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency accounted for Gresens on Feb. 28, 2025.
U.S. Army Human Resources Command’s Past Conflict Repatriations Branch plays a vital role in the process of identifying, locating and contacting subsequent generation family members of soldiers missing or killed in action during WWII and the Korean War to positively identify previously undiscovered or unknown remains.
This Sept. 19 – the Pentagon’s annual POW/MIA Recognition Day – the U.S. Defense Secretary identified the remains of Minnesotan, U.S. Army Capt. Willibald Bianchi. Bianchi was a Medal of Honor recipient who was declared missing in 1945. He received the Medal of Honor in 1942 for his heroic actions in Bataan, during which he sustained significant wounds. He returned to the battlefield, later becoming a prisoner of war and caring for fellow soldiers during the Bataan Death March. He was killed in 1945 aboard a Japanese POW “hell ship,” and his remains were not recovered at that time.
More than 80 years later, the American Battle Monuments Commission’s staff at the Manila American Cemetery placed a bronze rosette beside his name, signifying Capt. Bianchi is no longer missing in action.
According to the Pentagon, the 29-year-old never married and had no children, but his mother and sisters kept his memory alive by donating his Medal of Honor and other decorations to the Brown County Historical Society Museum in his hometown of New Ulm, which displays those items for visitors.
New Ulm also named a street for Bianchi in 1955 and renamed its American Legion post in his honor in 1990. At Bianchi's alma mater, South Dakota State University, a memorial and scholarship were established in 1998. Two years later, a monument in his honor was also dedicated at the school.
