Bremerton Korean War POW identified, to be buried to Kent

KENT, Wash. — The U.S. Army announced on Wednesday that they have identified the remains of a Bremerton native who died as a prisoner of war (POW) during the Korean War. They will bury the remains at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent on September 20, 2024.

Army Corporal Frederick A. Higgins was a member of the Medical Detachment, 15th Anti-aircraft Artillery, Automatic Weapons Battalion, 7th Infantry Division, Eighth U.S. Army.

According to the Army, he was captured after his unit was forced to retreat from Hagaru-ri, North Korea, in June 1950. According to witness accounts, Higgins died a POW in July 1951 at the age of 20.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting accounted for Higgins on June 22, 2023, after exhuming his remains in January 2020 from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii, for laboratory analysis and identification.

The Past Conflict Repatriations Branch (PCRB) locates family members of missing soldiers from World War II, the Korean and Vietnam wars.

The identification process begins with locating the family member most closely related to the missing soldier and followed by a request for DNA samples, which are used as a main source in identifying remains.

Once the Armed Forces Medical Examiner identifies a soldier, the PCRB notifies the family about the results and benefits of burial with full military honors.

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