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thedrifter
10-09-07, 06:50 AM
Fallen Marine is no longer unknown
Military IDs Louisvillian killed in Korean War

By Chris Kenning
ckenning@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal


In the spring of 1950, Donald Morris Walker hunched over a testing booklet at a Louisville recruiting office, hoping for a passing score to enter the Navy.

When he failed, he drove to a Marine recruiting office and enlisted that same day.

Within months, that decision would place the 19-year-old in the frozen hell of the Chosin Reservoir in Korea, where outnumbered U.S. Marines and soldiers faced a Chinese onslaught in one of the war's bloodiest battles.

Walker died during combat. He was hastily buried during the December retreat on land that soon fell into enemy hands. The United States was allowed to exhume his remains, but for decades they lay in Hawaii as an unknown soldier.

Fifty-seven years later, Walker's remains are being returned to his family.

The military's forensic lab has confirmed it has positively identified the remains -- ending decades of uncertainty for Walker's relatives, according to Carolyn Stewart, his Louisville niece.

"It's very good news," said Stewart, who works in a preschool in Floyd County, Ind. "We've heard so many different stories. There was no closure. Even though my grandmother isn't alive to know, at least we know."

Troy Kitch, deputy director of public affairs for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, confirmed the identification but would not release further details until the family is presented with the findings and asked to accept them officially later this month.

Stewart wants to have her uncle buried at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C.

The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command is the world's largest forensic anthropology lab, working in part to recover the more than 80,000 Americans missing from conflicts dating to World War II.

The unit recovers and identifies as many as 100 remains each year in a painstaking process that can involve diplomatic negotiations, research, expeditions and laboratory identification.

In 2004, remains believed to be Louisville pilot Norman Schwartz were returned to U.S. soil after a search expedition in China, 50 years after he was shot down during a secret CIA mission to pick up a Western spy. But forensic scientists eventually determined that they were likely those of a fellow pilot, according to relative Erik Kirzinger.

Walker, born April 16, 1931, lived in the Parkland area of Louisville. He attended a black Catholic high school, where he was quiet and self-assured, according to friend Robert Buckner, 75, of Louisville.

Walker joined the Naval Reserve in 1949 on "a whim," Buckner said. When Walker, Buckner and another friend, Charles Jarrett, decided to enter the Navy full time in March 1950, only Buckner passed the test.

"They decided to go to the Marine recruiting office instead. I went with them. The guy said, 'You may as well take it too,' and I did. We all passed, and we all decided to enter the Marines," Buckner said.

After basic training at Parris Island, S.C., they were shipped to California and soon to Korea, where the conflict was just taking shape.

"We talked about how we'd wear our medals and be the conquering heroes -- dreams of grandeur," Buckner said. "Publicity had said war would only last a few months."

A private first class, Walker was assigned to the 1st Service Battalion of the 1st Marine Division. The support company drove trucks loaded with ammunition, rations and fuel. That September, U.S. troops landed at Inchon, cutting off North Korean troops and recapturing Seoul.

Buckner and Walker were in different units. As Buckner neared the Chinese border on the Yalu River, he remembers seeing the river and thinking the fighting would end shortly, and he'd be seeing his friend soon.

"Then the Chinese came into it," he said.

Making good on warnings that it would intervene, China sent troops pouring over the border and quickly overwhelmed U.S. forces.

Walker was killed Dec. 7 -- Marine records say he was hit in the head with a missile during combat, though records from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command showed he died of a gunshot wound.

On Dec. 13, he was buried in Hungnam as the Marines battled their way to the city's port for evacuation. When the fighting ended in 1953, the area fell under North Korean and Chinese control.

The United States was allowed to exhume the Korean graves in 1954 under "Operation Glory." From the area where Walker was buried, about a half-dozen remains couldn't be identified. They were considered unknown soldiers for decades and buried in a military cemetery in Hawaii.

When the military eventually identified the other unknown soldiers, scientists figured it was likely that the last set of remains belonged to Walker. After more tests, Stewart said, the military recently "called my brother … and left word that the remains were his."

Charles Stallard, president of the Louisville chapter of the Montford Point Marine Association, named after an all-black training facility in the 1940s, said he hopes Walker will be recognized "for what he's been through" and properly laid to rest.

Buckner, who went on to serve nearly 21 years in the military and returned to Louisville after retiring in 1971, was also relieved. He said he believes the identification "will lift the burden of years of wondering."

Reporter Chris Kenning can be reached at (502) 582-4697.

Ellie

thedrifter
10-14-07, 05:17 PM
Remains of Marine killed in Korea to return
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Oct 14, 2007 14:55:11 EDT

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky — The remains of a Marine killed in the Korean War will be returned home to Kentucky nearly six decades after his death.

Donald Morris Walker was a 19-year-old Marine who was killed in fighting in the Chosin Reservoir in Korea — where outnumbered U.S. forces faced a Chinese onslaught in one of the war’s bloodiest battles.

He was buried during the December retreat on land that soon fell into North Korean hands. The United States was allowed to exhume his remains, but for decades they lay in Hawaii as an unknown soldier.

Now, the military’s forensic lab has confirmed it has positively identified the remains, which ends decades of uncertainty for Walker’s family, said his niece, Carolyn Stewart of Louisville.

“It’s very good news,” said Stewart. “We’ve heard so many different stories. There was no closure. Even though my grandmother isn’t alive to know, at least we know.”

Troy Kitch, a public affairs officer for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, confirmed Walker’s identification. The command is the world’s largest forensic anthropology lab, working in part to recover the more than 80,000 Americans missing from conflicts dating to World War II.

Stewart wants her uncle buried at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C.

Walker attended a black Catholic high school in Louisville, and joined the Marines with some of his friends, according to friend Robert Buckner, 75, of Louisville.

“We talked about how we’d wear our medals and be the conquering heroes — dreams of grandeur,” Buckner said. “Publicity had said war would only last a few months.”

In the Marines, Walker was assigned to the 1st Service Battalion of the 1st Marine Division, a support company that drove trucks loaded with ammunition, rations and fuel.

He was killed Dec. 7 — Marine records say he was hit in the head with a missile during combat, although records from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command showed he died of a gunshot wound.

After the Marines evacuated the area where Walker was buried, the area fell under North Korean and Chinese control.

The United States was allowed to exhume the Korean graves in 1954. About a half-dozen remains could not be identified, including Walker’s. They were considered unknown soldiers for decades and buried in a military cemetery in Hawaii.

When the military eventually identified the other unknown soldiers, scientists figured it was likely that the last set of remains belonged to Walker. After more tests, Stewart said, the military recently “called my brother and left word that the remains were his.”

Ellie