The Chosun Ilbo today has an article about a Korean War veteran that has been finely returned home for the final time:

At exactly three o’clock on Monday afternoon, a seven-member honor guard pointed their rifles to the sky at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington D.C., as a coffin draped with the Stars and Stripes was lifted from a hearse parked nearby. Six honor guards fell into step and carried the coffin 30 meters to the gravesite, where two large wreaths were laid on a blue carpet. Members of the family of Sgt. 1st Class Jack O. Tye of Loyall, Kentucky arrived in a deluxe limousine provided by the cemetery. They were followed by a dozen or so Korean War veterans living in nearby Virginia. Fifty-eight years after his death at the age of 20 in the Korean War, Sgt. Tye was finally returned to his homeland. [Chosun Ilbo]

SFC Tye was a member of the 38th Infantry Regiment which was part of the 2nd Infantry Division. He was taken prisoner by the Chinese in late November 1950 during the battle of the Cheongcheon River in North Korea which I have posted about before on the ROK Drop. He died from malnutrition while in Chinese captivity and was buried in a mass grave in North Korea with other GIs that died while in captivity.

North Korea is paid for the bodies of US servicemembers they repatriate from North Korea. This is something I support and I will tell you why. A few years ago I was on funeral detail and the most memorable funeral I had to do was a funeral for a US Air Force pilot that died when has plane crashed in the Chinese Himalayas during World War II. The family of the deceased pilot to include his two kids that never had the chance to know their father was extremely thankful for the memorial service that we did. Seeing the pilot’s 85 year old sister cry over her long lost brothers grave was quite emotional and proved to me that every cent the US government spent to bring his body back was worth it for this family.

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