Tucson Soldier Lost In the Korean War To Get Hero's Funeral

TUCSON, AZ — Army Cpl. Arthur Contreras Ramirez, missing in action since his unit came under heavy fire from Chinese Communist forces in the Korean War, will finally get a proper soldier’s burial in Tucson later this year.

Ramirez’s remains, along with those of other American soldiers killed in a December 1950, battle near Hagaru-ri, North Korea, were turned over to the U.S. government in July 2018, following President Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Ramirez’s March 19 funeral Mass in Tucson will be a public event, his family said. It will be held at 10:30 a.m. at St. Augustine Cathedral, 192 Stone Ave. His remains will be interred at Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Marana.

The Korean War Project lists Dec. 6, 1950, as the date of Rameriz’s death, but he may have died as early as Dec. 1. He left

Rameriz was 18 when he left his home in Tucson and signed up with the Army in Phoenix, his nephew, Arturo Mendoza, told the Arizona Daily Star.

“We are very honored by him, and relieved that his remains have been found,” Mendoza told the newspaper. “He now can be given the proper recognition.”

» Read the full story on the Arizona Star.