FORT SMITH — Army Pfc. Johnny Mayberry was laid to rest in American soil Friday, nearly 59 years after dying for his country on a frozen battlefield in Korea.
About 100 family members and friends, active military personnel, and veterans attended Mayberry's funeral in Fort Smith after his remains, discovered in North Korea in 2004 and identified in April, were returned to his hometown for burial.
His flag-draped silver casket was carried by a military honor guard. Members of the Patriot Guard Riders, Marine Corps League, VFW Post 8845 and Vietnam Veterans of America also stood outside the funeral home and at Fort Smith National Cemetery in tribute to Mayberry.
After the funeral, a procession led by the hearse containing Mayberry's remains rolled down Garrison Avenue on the way to the cemetery as hundreds of residents, some waving American flags, lined the sidewalk to watch him pass.
"That meant so much to see so many people show respectfor my brother," said Mayberry's sister, Alice Baker of Fort Smith.
Mayberry was buried with military honors that included ceremonial firing of guns followed by the playing of taps." Baker and Mayberry's brother, Jerry Mayberry of Fort Smith, were presented with flags from the ceremony.
Mayberry's funeral was held on the day Americans continued to mourn Sen. Edward Kennedy, who died this week at age 77. Mayberry would be 77, too.
Like Kennedy, Mayberry was praised for his service to his country.
"We were all brothers fighting for the same cause," said Walter Morton of Springdale, a Marine with the 1st Marine Division who also fought in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir where Mayberry died. He attended Friday's funeral.
"I was lucky," Morton said. "I gave a lot. He gave all. I'm here to honor him."
The funeral service was conducted by Lt. Col. Wesley Hilliard, the Arkansas National Guard's command chaplain, who said those who gathered Friday were there to honor a hometown hero who gave his life for the country he loved.
He said relatives told him that Mayberry begged his mother, Emma, to allow him to enlist in the Army even though he was 17 because he wanted to be a soldier and fight for his country.
He also said some relatives considered Mayberry to have more personality than all the family put together.
Boyhood friend and former Fort Smith Mayor Bill Vines said during the funeral that Mayberry was one of a group of friends known as the Bailey Hill Boys who played sandlot sports and hung around together.
"Johnny Mayberry had the best personality of the whole group," Vines said. "Everyone loved Johnny."
A nephew, Raymond Franklin of Fort Smith, said he was younger than 10 when Mayberry went to war. He remembered the day the official word of Mayberry's death reached the family. A clock in his mother's home that had ceased to work began to chime, he recalled.
"Everybody was happy they found him," he said.
During the funeral, Hilliard read part of a Department ofDefense account of Mayberry's death.
Mayberry was a member of the 57th Field Artillery Battalion of the 7th Infantry Division and was part of the 31st Regimental Combat Team set up on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea.
Morton said his Marine unit was at Hagaru-Ri, 10 miles south of the reservoir, and "better prepared" for the attack than his Army comrades.
On Nov. 27, 1950, 17,000 Chinese soldiers from three divisions attacked the 2,500 soldiers in the combat team. An estimated 2,000 soldiers were killed in the days that followed.
Some tried to break out and make it to the Marine outpost at Hagaru-Ri but were stopped two miles short.
Reports said Mayberry was killed in action the day after the attack began, on Nov. 28, by smallarms fire or mortar rounds.
Mayberry's remains were found when a team of U.S. military personnel went to North Korea in 2004 after extensive negotiations with its government.
Using U.S. records, workers discovered a grave containing bone fragments of seven men about 10 miles north of Hagaru-Ri where the 31st Regimental Combat Team was positioned when the attack began.
In November 2005, the remains were shipped to Maryland, where the DNA from the remains was matched with the DNA of relatives.
Morton said Friday that he hoped efforts would continue to find and bring home American military personnel buried in foreign countries.
"I don't think [the government] could spend enough money to bring them back," he said.
Arkansas, Pages 11, 17 on 08/29/2009