  Welcome Home Sergeant - Thank You and your family for your sacrifice for our Nation. |
Posted on 11/28/2006 12:38:54 PM PST by Dubya
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
He is Master Sgt. Robert V. Layton, U.S. Army, of Cincinnati, Ohio. He is to be buried today at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington D.C.
Layton was assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division (making up the 31st Regimental Combat Team). The RCT was engaged against the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces along the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea. After intense fighting from Nov. 27-Dec. 1, 1950, the battalion was forced to abandon its position, leaving its dead behind. Layton was listed as missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950, and was later presumed killed in action.
Between 2002 and 2004, joint U.S. and Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, seven times excavated a mass burial site associated with the 31st RCT along the eastern shore of the Chosin Reservoir. The team found human remains and other material evidence, including Layton’s identification tag and part of his billfold containing a newspaper clipping reporting on a Bronze Star being awarded to “Sgt. Robert Layton” circa 1944.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.
Welcome home, Sergeant. Rest In Peace.
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Welcome Home Sergeant - Thank You and your family for your sacrifice for our Nation. |
Fyi..
I hope to be posting their names and home states by this evening.
According to the list of Korean casualties, Layton was born in 1924, so he was about 26 years old.
New War Started: MacArthur
Charges Red China with agression
Asks UN what step to take
Earnest Roberecht,Tokyo (UP)
A horde of 200, 000 Chinese communists swarmed over North Korea Tuesday, threatening to trap desperately fighting Allies in an offensive which Gen. Douglas MacArthur said marked the start of "an entirely new war."The Chinese, pouring like locusts over the countryside as far as the human eye could see, ripped through a widening hole torn in the right flank of the UN line.
They could be seen along "every road, every gulley and every ridgeline," a First corps spokesman said.
As the Chinese seized the offensive and rocked the Allies back on the defensive, MacArthur issued a bristling statement accusing the Chinese of hurling the major part of their fighting force against the UN.
MacArther said China's full-scale intervention the the Korean war posed issues beyond his authority and asked the UN what they wanted to do about it. Hopes of Ending War Shattered.
In a special signed communique, he said Red China had shattered his "high hopes" of an early end to the Korean war that would get American troops "home by Christmas."
There was no doubt that the Chinese assault had caused a crisis. [snip]
The ground forces called for desperately needed air support, and Allied planes went out to pour bullets and bombs on the Communist flood.
But they could not stem the Red tide.
This is a great report. My family had a foster-son who died there. He was my oldest brothers best buddy. He was from a family with about 12 kids, wandered home with my brother one day and just stayed.
His name was James Bowman (Jimmy) from Marion County, WV. He was a BAR gunner in Company K, 31st Infantry. My dad had a photo of him and had written down his date of death as 30 September, remains recovered March 30, 1952 but I found a Korean war website that listed him as MIA. I later went back and his status was changed but there wasn't any other info on it.
Based on this article I believe he was found at the same time. I've been wondering how to find out what happened to him. I know there is an MIA lab site in Hawaii.
Duh, now that I re-read it the link is right in the article for more info. I have been working on this off and on for 10 years. Heck, my brother died and won't benefit from knowing what happened to Jimmy.
We're glad your home, Sergeant. It's been too long. RIP finally.
My great uncle went MIA in Korea. Never heard another word about him.
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