Edward Lee Borders comes home
Chief Tango sends us links to the news that Corporal Edward Lee Borders will be returned to his family in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 66 years after he died as a POW in Korea;
Borders was a member of D Battery, 82nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion (Automatic Weapons), 2nd Infantry Division, at the time when American units began supporting South Korean Army attacks against units of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces (CPVF) in an area known as the Central Corridor in North Korea.
D Battery was part of a group known as Support Force 21 (SF21) and provided artillery fire support for the South Korean Army during its attack north on Hongch’on.
On the evening of Feb. 11, 1951, the CPVF launched a massive counter offensive against the South Koreans, who were forced to withdraw, leaving Borders’ unit and the rest of SF21 behind at Changbong-ni.
The SF 21 marched south along Route 29, fighting through ambushes and roadblocks, to Hoengsong and eventually to the city of Wonju. Borders was reported missing in action as of Feb. 13, 1951, when he did not report with his unit in Wonju.
A list provided by the CPVF and Korean People’s Army (KPA) on Dec. 26, 1951, reported Borders died while a prisoner of war.
His niece, Phyllis Walker, will be on hand when his remains arrive from Hawaii next Saturday;
“I wish it could have been sooner. I wish my dad and his two brothers could have seen this. I wish my mother, who always kept his picture next to my dad’s picture, could have seen this day. But he is coming home, and I am touched by how this all came to be.”
Walker said at least Borders’ nieces and nephews, Linda Becker, Cindy Easterlin, Fred Borders and Rusty Borders will all be together again to see Edward Lee laid to rest.
Services for U.S. Army Reserve Cpl Edward Lee Borders will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 29, at J.M. Weirauch Funeral Home in Harrisburg, with the Rev. Chris Winkleman officiating.
Internment with full military honors will follow at Cottage Grove Cemetery. Visitation will be 9 a.m. Saturday, July 29 at the funeral home.
Category: We Remember
CPL Borders was accounted for by DPAA about 7 weeks ago. Good to see that CPL Borders will finally be laid to rest properly.
A belated welcome home, elder brother-in-arms. Rest well.
They used to give the families his ‘POW’ medal, guess they don’t do that anymore…obozo must have wasted too much money!
Welcome home, CPL.
Rest well.
Welcome home my long-lost brother. You were lost but never forgotten.
Welcome home.
God bless and keep you brother until the day we can meet face to face. Corporal, I salute you.
Welcome home young Trooper.
Mission accomplished…
Godspeed to you and prayers for your family.
He was listed MIA – but died in captivity. Wonder if they ever told the family.
God bless these guys who still work so hard to bring our servicemen home.
While I’m at it, I am also thankful for those that tend our national cemeteries overseas. I know a woman (through a WWII discussion site) who lives in the Calais region of France who has adopted 6 US soldiers graves in a nearby cemetery.