WEYBURN – The remains of an American soldier, Lawrence Robidoux, formerly from Radville and later of Rhode Island, has been identified by DNA testing more than 70 years after his death as a POW in the Korean War.
Robidoux will be buried with full honors in the Arlington National Cemetery in September.
Born in 1928 and raised in Radville, Robidoux was the son of Joseph Robidoux and Eva Sabourin.
He moved with his family to Rhode Island in 1948, and at the age of 19, he joined the U.S. Army in January of 1949. His 90-year-old cousin, Mel Van de Sype of Radville, has fond memories of Robidoux, recalling that he loved doing sketches.
He also remembered as a young boy going to the funeral for Lawrence’s mother and an infant boy in 1938. Joseph Robidoux remarried, and there were five more children brought into the family.
Robidoux joined Company B, 1st Battalion of the 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, which was initially based in Japan.
When war broke out in Korea in June of 1950, the troops in Japan were among the first to be sent to the conflict.
In November of 1950, the Chinese forces hit B Company, and Robidoux and 77 others were officially listed as Missing in Action.
It was later determined he was in a POW camp in North Korea, where he died in May of 1951. A group of repatriated POWs confirmed he had been held at Prison Camp 5, and he died of malnutrition and exposure. U.S. authorities determined in 1956 that his remains were unrecoverable.
His family tried to find out over the years more about where he was buried. In 2018 several remains that had been moved to Hawaii were exhumed and testing done to identify them. Finally on Jan. 24 of this year, the family was informed that DNA testing determined his remains had been identified.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in the U.S. used dental, anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis, according to a report in the Providence Journal.
The report noted this brought comfort to Lawrence’s sister, Lucille Couture, who is 97 and lives in a nursing home.
A captain with the National Guard visited Lucille on April 23 to present her brother’s awards and medals, with several family and friends on hand for the presentation.
Lucille’s son, Larry Couture, was named for her brother and served 22 years in the Army, 11 on active duty, and he led the family’s efforts to find Lawrence’s remains.
The U.S. Army will be providing transportation for the family members to attend the funeral at Arlington, said Van de Sype, who noted he was asked if he would attend, but likely won’t be able to go.
