PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — The remains of a soldier killed during the Korean War were interred Saturday at Swan Lake Memory Gardens in Peoria.
Twenty-two-year-old Army Sgt. Richard Crotty was reported missing in action on Sept. 1, 1950, near Yongsan, South Korea.
The Army determined his remains non-recoverable in January 1956.
Crotty was later accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Laboratory for analysis.
Wayne Kirkpatrick with Rolling Thunder said the bikers – many who are veterans themselves – view burying the remains of a fallen soldier as a moral obligation as Americans.
“The issue we see is the impact on families,” Kirkpatrick said. “My gosh, 70 some years and they have no idea where their loved one is. We often speak that veterans are not only the ones that wore uniforms but those families also.”
According to Kirkpatrick, when Rolling Thunder has the opportunity to bring a missing soldier home, they do it as big as they can.
