WASHINGTON, D.C. ? Months after the Korean War started, heavy artillery hit Army Cpl. Edward F. Blazejewski’s unit, killing the 25-year-old. When the unit had to move out, his body was left behind.

His family waited 55 years for his remains to be recovered from Korean soil, identified and, on Friday, finally buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Blazejewski had been assigned to Medical Company, 8th Cavalry Regiment, according to the Defense Department.

On Nov. 1, 1950, he was with his unit in Pyongan Province when Chinese forces barraged them with heavy artillery. A prisoner of war later told debriefers that Blazejewski and other soldiers had been killed that day by a grenade explosion. Because the unit had to quickly move to a defensive position, the bodies of the fallen soldiers were left behind.

His remains were positively identified this year by scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command’s identification laboratory using various forensic methods, including mitochondrial DNA.