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A Memorial Day burial is planned for a U.S. Army soldier and Medal of Honor recipient whose remains were identified nearly 73 years after he went missing during the Korean War.
Cpl. Luther H. Story’s remains will be buried on the May 29 holiday at Andersonville National Cemetery near his hometown of Americus, Georgia, the Army said in a statement Friday.
President Joe Biden announced last month that scientists had positively identified Story’s remains. The news coincided with a Washington visit by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The 19-year-old Story had been missing since Sept. 1, 1950. The wounded corporal was last seen fighting off North Korean attackers so that his fellow soldiers could reach safety. His Medal of Honor citation says Story remained behind knowing his injuries would slow down his fellow soldiers.
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“When last seen he was firing every weapon available and fighting off another hostile assault,” the citation says.
Story was awarded the nation’s highest military honor posthumously. The medal was presented to his father during a Pentagon ceremony in 1951.
On Jan. 16, 1954, the corporal was declared unrecoverable. His remains were still missing.
In June 2021, the U.S. disinterred the remains of 652 unidentified Korean War casualties buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.
Among them were remains recovered from Sangde-po, South Korea, in October 1950. Scientists successfully matched them to Story using DNA as well as dental and anthropological analysis.