CLINTON -- Geraldean Johnson, 87, stared at the flag-draped casket holding the remains of Cpl. C.G. Bolden, her former husband, as a U.S. Army honor guard fired a 12-gun salute Saturday, giving him a final send-off.
Sixty-four years after Bolden disappeared during the Korean War -- and 10 weeks after his family was first notified that his remains had been found and identified -- the soldier was buried beside his parents in a cemetery in Clinton.
"Times like these are precious, rare and exceptional," said Clinton Mayor Richard McCormac, a friend of Bolden's family. "We have a chance to stop the world today and see things that are usually unseen, like dedication, love and conviction."
William Cox, a mortuary affairs specialist with the Army Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center at Fort Knox, Ky., told family members in January that Bolden, 24, died of malnutrition at a prisoner of war camp in North Korea.
His remains were found scattered among some of the 208 boxes of bones returned to the United States from North Korea in the 1990s. Scientists have been working to identify the American remains in the 20 years since the boxes arrived.
Relatives, friends and others in the Clinton community filed onto the stage during a visitation held in the Clinton High School auditorium Saturday, where an open casket revealed a new Army uniform decorated with Bolden's earned medals and badges.
The remains, tucked into a blanket, lay underneath.
Traci Bolden, one of C.G.'s three granddaughters, traveled to the military's identification laboratory at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii last week to return home the grandfather she never knew. Scientists at the laboratory explained to her how they identified Bolden using samples of his siblings' DNA, which were taken about 15 years ago.
Traci Bolden wrapped up the remains that were found.
"It was very emotional. I'm still emotional," she said Saturday. "Some of my tears are in there with him."
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton; U.S. Rep. French Hill; state Rep. Trevor Drown, R-Dover; and Ken Griffin, Gov. Asa Hutchinson's military liaison, spoke to those at the funeral.
Hill, who had recognized Bolden on the U.S. House floor Feb. 12, said he was grateful that Bolden was now surrounded "by the beauty of your Ozark hills and the legacy of your family."
Cotton said Bolden's return was a "needed and timely reminder of the promise and the power of America's warrior spirit."
"He might have been forgotten with time, but here we are all these years later," Cotton said. "We're welcoming him home and returning him to his family."
McCormac announced that Feb. 19 -- the date Bolden's remains were returned to the state -- will be known as "Cpl. C.G. Bolden Day" in Clinton. He had previously introduced a proclamation to designate the day, and it was approved by the City Council.
"This day will be set aside every year for the remembrance of those who gave their lives for our freedom, with a special emphasis on prisoners of war and those missing in action," McCormac said.
"This town, its people, will remember this boy, this husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, cousin and friend that many of us never actually met. He's finally with us, and we'll honor him from now on."
Carl Thomason, the pastor who led the service Saturday, thanked the community on behalf of the family for welcoming Bolden home.
A few hundred people attended the visitation and service, and hundreds more participated in events earlier in the week.
On Thursday, a military funeral honor guard unloaded the casket carrying Bolden's remains from a plane at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field in Little Rock. Arkansas State Police and other law enforcement officers, along with Patriot Guard Riders, escorted his remains from Little Rock to Clinton.
People in Faulkner and Van Buren counties, some holding American flags, lined the highway and waved as the procession drove by.
Clinton was awash in red, white and blue Saturday, with miniature American flags lining the main streets and larger flags attached to the chain-link fence of the small cemetery. Businesses along Arkansas 65 had put out signs reading "Welcome home" and "Our hero."
Hutchinson ordered that flags statewide be flown at half-staff Saturday in Bolden's memory. In the order, Hutchinson called Bolden a "Korean War hero" and said he was "forever one of Arkansas' own."
C.G. Bolden was born in Eglantine, a small community east of Clinton, on Jan. 8, 1927. Almost 24 years later, on Jan. 5, 1951, he was captured after a Chinese attack near Hoengsong, South Korea.
Johnson was notified on Valentine's Day 1951 that her husband was missing in action. She was left to care for their 3-year-old son, Larry.
On Dec. 11 last year, hours after she received the call that his remains had been identified, Johnson said she had always known he would return home.
"I kept thinking, 'They're going to find his remains someday.' And now they did," she said. "It's unreal. It just seems like it's a different day."
Bolden also left behind 10 siblings. Johnie Bolden and Helen Ruth Isom contributed the DNA that helped identify their brother's remains. Johnie Bolden, who had stepped into the role of "dad" for Larry, died in April 2002.
Isom, the last living sibling, stepped onto the stage Saturday with the help of her son.
"She's the only one left," Traci Bolden said. "This is a special moment."
When the honor guard carried the casket from the hearse to the burial site, Larry Bolden, now 68, held his mother's hand. They sat side by side during the short graveside ceremony, and the large group of people that surrounded them was silent when a lone trumpeter played taps.
"His family was given something today they have not known since 1951," Drown said earlier Saturday. "That something is closure."
Metro on 02/22/2015