18-04-2025
Remains of fallen Korean War veteran coming home after 75 years
HAZLEHURST, Ga. (WSAV) — The remains of a United States Army Master Sergeant will return home, 75 years after he was killed in action in the Korean War.
Master Sergeant Luther Grace first enlisted in the U.S. Army in June 1940. Serving in World War II, he gave his life in action at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir a decade later in the Korean War.
Grace was reported missing in action on Nov. 30, 1950, near the Chosin Reservoir in what was then known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, now known as North Korea. There was no evidence that he was held as a prisoner of war, and the U.S. Army issued a presumptive finding of death Dec. 31, 1953.
In 1954, the United Nations Command and the Chinese Communist Forces exchanged the remains of fallen service personnel in an effort named Operation GLORY. The Central Identification Unit Laboratory at Kokura, Japan could not identify Grace's remains, and they were designated Unknown X-15760.
Two years later, all unidentified Korean War remains, including Unknown X-15760 were moved to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hi.
In July 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)'s researchers proposed a plan to study the hundreds of Korean War unknown burials, hoping to identify them. Unknown X-15760 was disinterred on March 29, 2021, and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory.
The DPAA spent several years of DNA, dental and anthropological analysis and based on the totality of the circumstantial evidence available and announced that U.S. Army Master Sgt. Luther Grace was accounted for on Dec. 18, 2024.
MSgt Grace's name is recorded on the American Battle Monument Commission's Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Now, 75 years later, he will be brought back to his home state on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, and will be escorted to Hazlehurst following his arrival. Further details will be announced for the public to view the procession into Jeff Davis County.
A viewing of Grace's U.S. Army dress uniform with awarded metals will be held on Friday, May 2, 2025, from 5-8 p.m. at Wainright-Parlor Funeral Home in Hazlehurst, Georgia.
Grace will be honored with a full U.S. military funeral service at the Jeff Davis High School Yellow Jackets Stadium in Hazlehurst, Georgia on Saturday, May 3, at 11 a.m. Grace will be laid to rest following the service in the Fishing Creek Sapfield Cemetery in Lumber City, Ga.
Members of the Jeff Davis County Veterans Association, Veterans of Telfair County and all other veterans will serve as pallbearers.
In lieu of flowers, the family asked that memorial contributions be made to the Jeff Davis County Veterans Association or any veterans association of your choice.
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