David J. Wishon Jr. comes home

Chief Tango sends us a link to the Washington Post which tells the story of Army Corporal David J. Wishon Jr, an 18-year-old medic who was swept up in the Chinese attack on US troops known as the battle at Chosin Reservoir. He was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 7th Infantry Division when the hordes of Chinese soldiers swept cross the border between China and Korea and surrounded thousands of US soldiers.

An estimated 1,500 U.S. servicemen were killed or injured at the Chosin Reservoir out of a force of about 2,500, said Matthew J. Seelinger, chief historian of the Army History Museum. The medical unit to which Wishon belonged was wiped out.

Wishon was classified as missing on Dec. 1, 1950. Three years later, lacking any further information about him, a military review board declared Wishon dead. But the nation had not forgotten him.

In the early 1990s, North Korea returned 208 boxes of “commingled” human remains to the United States. A separate joint U.S.-North Korea recovery effort added more remains. From that material, at least 600 American servicemen have been identified.

His remains were laid to rest in Section 60 of Arlington Cemetery yesterday by the 3rd Regiment’s Old Guard and the flag that draped his coffin was presented to his sister Celia Gray, who was interviewed by the Baltimore Sun;

“Oh, what a story how they found my brother’s bones, not dust, as I thought,” she wrote in remarks for his funeral. “[They] showed me how they put his remaining bones together, piece by piece, nine bones in all so far. They may find more, plus small fragments, tooth enamel, bone dust and sediment. The Army took my two sisters’ DNA and was able to match it to my brother, Buddy. … What a story!”

[…]

“Sixty-six years and I’m getting him back,” she said Wednesday night at her Essex home.

Category: We Remember