LITTLE ROCK — An Arkansas soldier who died in the Korean War will be buried in Fort Smith next week, nearly 60 years after he disappeared on the frozen battlefield at the Chosin Reservoir.
The remains of Pfc. Johnny Herbert Mayberry had been missing since he was reported killed in action Nov. 28, 1950. He was identified through DNA testing on April 1.
His family, notified of the findings last month, plans a burial Friday at National Cemetery in Fort Smith with full military honors.
"This is a case where the men who served with him have wondered for years," said Ted Barker, a director of the Korean War Project, which seeks to identify remains of the war's soldiers by cataloging DNA from surviving family members."There are very few found, but each one of them makes a huge difference to the men and to the family."
About 8,100 U.S. servicemen who fought in the Korean War are not fully accounted for,Barker said. Since 1992, the Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Command has identified the remains of fewer than 200 people through DNA testing in a special forensics lab at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, which makes the confirmation of Mayberry's remains rare.
Mayberry's surviving family includes a brother, Jerry C. Mayberry, and a sister, Alice Baker, both of Fort Smith. Family members declined to comment on the recovery of Mayberry's remains or the years of uncertainty.
"There's still so much we don't know," Jerry Mayberry said.
Johnny Mayberry, a member of the 57th Field Artillery Battalion of the 7th Infantry Division, started active duty on Oct. 14, 1949. He died, at age 18, less than a year later during the conflict at the Chosin Reservoir.
About 30,000 soldiers and Marines in the battle - known as "the frozen Chosin" because of subzero ground temperatures - were overwhelmedunexpectedly by 120,000 Chinese troops, said A.W. Busbea of North Little Rock, a former Marine who now directs the Chosin Reservoir Foundation. They retreated, leaving many of the war dead behind to be buried in shallow graves.
"We were surrounded," Busbea said. "That was the fastest they ever gave out Medals of Honor."
Busbea still suffers from disabilities, including a lack of sensitivity in his feet related to the frostbite that he suffered in the battle.
Larry Greer, spokesman for the personnel missing in action office at the Pentagon, said an estimated 1,079 remains still surround Chosin in what is now northeast North Korea.
Mayberry's remains were found when a team of U.S. military personnel went to North Korea in 2004 after extensive negotiations with the government, Greer said. Using U.S. records, workers discovered a grave containing the bone fragments of seven men about 10 miles north of the village of Hagaru-Ri, where Mayberry reportedly died.
In November 2005, the remains where shipped to Rockville, Md., where DNA testing showed one set of bone fragments fit Mayberry's profile.
The match was later confirmed when mitochondrial DNA submitted by Mayberry's siblings matched samples from the bones. Mitochondrial DNA, taken from the energy-producing part of the cell, is often used to confirm familial relationships because it is inherited directly from the mother and unchanged between generations, allowing for a traceable lineage.
"It's on the money," Greer said. "It's not just DNA, it's not just the circumstantial evidence that places him at that point, and it's not just traditional forensic processes. It's all of those together matching with the military records that we had. You bring those four lines of evidence together and it can only be one person."
The experience of burying Mayberry likely will be a relief,but emotionally difficult, too, for the family, Barker said.
"It's wonderful when we find a match," Barker said. "But it's confusing for some families. It's like you're bringing home an 18- or 19-year-old kid all over again."
Arkansas, Pages 11, 17 on 08/22/2009