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Bryant: Korean War veteran buried 58 years after his death

By: Lauren Gregory
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Bruce Cooper

BRYANT, Ala. — John Hershel White joined the Army in 1947 to get out of this small Sand Mountain farming community and see the world.

But the Army finally has returned him home — nearly 60 years after his death — and that’s right where he belongs for eternity, according to his five surviving sisters.

“It’s better now,” said his eldest sister, Faye Cooper, wiping the tears from her eyes following a well-attended military burial for Sgt. White at Bryant Cemetery on Saturday afternoon. “He’s by our mom.”

The siblings’ mother, Mary Lucy White, died in 1984 and never knew the fate of her 20-year-old son, who was one of more than 350 service members unaccounted for after a Nov. 2, 1950, battle at Unsan, North Korea, according to the Department of Defense.

His remains, along with two military identification tags imprinted with his name, were excavated in November 2006 and were sent to the United States in April 2007. They finally were identified as Sgt. White, a member of the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division, through mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons.

The remains arrived home last week and were placed in a casket with a blanket and uniform draped over them in preparation for Saturday’s funeral and burial.

Though as a war veteran Sgt. White could have been buried at Chattanooga National Cemetery — where a stone designating him as missing in action still stood Saturday — his sisters wanted to reunite him with their mother, who they said never gave up hope that her son would return home alive.

“She would get up and go to the door at night, and she would go to the barn to milk a cow and go back again because she said she heard him calling her,” recalled Sgt. White’s youngest sister, Patricia Barnett. “And I think she really did.”

Though Mrs. Barnett was only a toddler when her brother went away to war, she said she was grieving just as much as her older sisters, who sat together clutching crumpled tissues in their fists as Sgt. White was honored with a governor’s commendation at the Moore Funeral Home chapel.

In her purse, she carried a baseball her brother had given her just before he left. She explained that she had kept it decade after decade, along with the fond memories of her brother and the wish for his safe return.

Mrs. Barnett said being able to see and feel her brother’s remains Saturday was difficult, but at least brought closure to the family.

“It’s sad in one way, but it’s also good in a way,” she concluded.

She and her sisters were amazed that more than 300 people attended the funeral, filling the standing-room-only chapel and spilling out into the receiving area. Just as many drove down the road to the cemetery to watch the burial ceremony, which included a 21-gun salute, taps and the folding of both a POW/MIA flag and an American flag in Sgt. White’s honor.

The Patriot Guard Riders kept watch as the crowd, filled with both friends and strangers, paid their respects. The onlookers fanned themselves as they leaned against headstones in the afternoon heat, but they remained solemn and silent.

“I think the best part was that there wasn’t a sound,” Sgt. White’s nephew, Bruce Cooper, said after the ceremony concluded. “All of the energy was focused on the moment.”

The military officers who helped organize the event also were impressed by the attention paid to Sgt. White’s sacrifice.

“I didn’t expect this,” said 1st Lt. Keith Cremeens, who brought Sgt. White’s pallbearers from Fort Rucker, Ala. “This is the largest military funeral I’ve ever been a part of.”

Spc. Jeffrey Farmer, who attended on behalf of the American Legion’s Trenton, Ga., chapter, agreed.

“This brings out the patriotism that you didn’t think was alive anymore,” he said. “It’s so good to see this kind of support.”

Bryant residents Larry and Tim Knight weren’t surprised at the turnout at all. The brothers, who are both Navy veterans of the Vietnam War, said they didn’t know Sgt. White personally but felt it was important to pay their respects just the same.

“Bryant, Alabama, is a very patriotic community,” Larry Knight said. “We’re happy he’s back home.”

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