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Laid to rest: Remains of Broken Bow Korean War Soldier identified |
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Thursday, 19 March 2009 |
 • Fellow POWs to attend ceremony
By MICHELLE ZLOMKE
Chief Managing Editor
Military announcements peppered the front page of the Custer County Chief in the 1940s and 1950s, noting the men who had enlisted, trained, fought and returned home during World War II and the Korean War.
Not all the men returned home, however, and an occasional headline shared the solemn news.
"Pat Arthur Missing In Korea" read the headline at the top left the Chief's June 18, 1951 front page.
The Department of Defense announced Monday that Sgt. 1st Class Patrick J. Arthur's remains had been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
He will be buried May 1 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.
Two of the former prisoners of war who helped bury Arthur in Korea will attend the ceremony, according to Arthur's niece, Kay Einspahr.
"It's really quite a story," Einspahr said. "Two POWs who were with him, who buried my uncle on what they called the March of Death, are in their 80s and they will be there."
Einspahr said the half-dozen family members who will attend the ceremony hope to have time to visit with Arthur's fellow soldiers.
According to the 1951 article in the Chief, Arthur's sister, Mrs. Alice Trotter, received a telegram in mid-June 1951 thatSgt. Arthur was missing in Korea.
Trotter was Kay Einspahr's mother.
The article said two of Arthur's brothers, James, Sr., and Thomas, also lived in Broken Bow at that time.
He was the son of the late Gus Arthur.
The Department of Defense reports Arthur was a member of Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 38th Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division.
In mid May 1951, elements of the 2nd ID were securing their positions on the No Name Line south of the Soyang River, South Korea, when the Chinese Army launched a major counter-offensive.
The 2nd ID was forced to withdraw south to a more defensible position north and east of the Hongch'on River.
During the withdrawal, Arthur was captured by enemy forces on May 18, 1951, and was marched north into North Korea.
The family later learned that Arthur died of malnutrition and disease in July, and he was buried at the Suan Mining POW Camp near Pyongyang.
According to the Department of Defense, between 1991-94, North Korea gave the United States 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200-400 U.S.servicemen.
Accompanying some of the remains were Arthur's military identification tag and a denture fragment bearing his name.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in identifying some of the remains as Arthur's.
Einspahr said her mother and her mother's sister, Jane, each provided DNA to the Department of Defense before they died.
Her mother died five years ago, Einspahr said.
"My mother pursued this for a long time," Einspahr said. "The military has kept us informed along the way."
Arthur was on furlough in Broken Bow in June 1950 when he received notice to report to Ft. Lewis, Wash. because of the Korean conflict, according to the Chief.
He was sounded in Korea in November 1950, suffering wounds to his feet and legs, but returned to duty three weeks later.
He was promoted from corporal to sergeant while in Korea, was a squad leader and led a group of Korean soldiers.
The Korean tour was Arthur's fourth overseas assignment, the Chief article states.
He served in Guadalcanal and Germany in World War II, and served in Germany again after the war.
He won the Silver Star for gallantry on Guadalcanal. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 26 March 2009 )
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