TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - The remains of a Marine from northwestern Ohio are being reburied in his home state more than six decades after he was killed in North Korea and buried with hundreds of unidentified Korean War veterans.
Cpl. Harold W. Reed died in an artillery shell blast Nov. 29, 1950, two days before his 24th birthday.
His Saturday burial fulfills a wish for his late mother, who was so certain that her son would someday be laid to rest near her that she bought a burial plot for herself and her children, telling the family it was “a place for Harold when he comes home.”
Reed’s brother-in-law, 81-year-old Billy Power of Toledo, said he vowed to bring Reed’s remains home and called it a blessing, though Reed’s mother and sister didn’t live to see it.
Reed’s brother-in-law, 81-year-old Billy Power of Toledo, told The Blade newspaper that he vowed to bring Reed’s remains home and called it a blessing, though Reed’s mother and sister didn’t live to see it.
“I know up in heaven they are jumping for joy that Harold is coming home,” said Power, an Army veteran who also fought in the Korean War.
A chest X-ray helped officials identify Reed’s remains, which were removed from a shallow grave in North Korea and placed for decades with unidentified veterans in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, the newspaper said.
Reed’s unit had been assigned to protect a main supply line and later shifted to a hill that was bombarded by the enemy.
“That day 29 were killed, and the Marines took time to bury as many as they could. Running out of time, they strapped dead and wounded on a Jeep,” Power said.
The family was told Reed had a battlefield burial. “That means they dig a hole and take off on a run,” Power said.
At a visitation for Reed on Friday, a woman who was married to him for five years before he died paid her respects.
Dorothy Sobczak, who had lost contact with Reed’s family over the years, said she didn’t know Reed had returned home until she saw a news report.
“With Dorothy here now, the circle is complete. We’re all together now. That means everything,” Power told WTOL-TV.
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Information from: The Blade, https://www.toledoblade.com/
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