PFC Jerry Pat Craig was age 17 years and 11 months at time of death. Born in Panhandle, Texas on December 19, 1932 - would have been 81 years old on his entombment date if he had survived. He was a member of the Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Division of the United States Army. Killed in action on the Eastern Shore of the Chosin Reservoir, "Heartbreak Ridge" North Korea on December 2, 1950. His Regimental Combat Team was attacked and overwhelmed by superior numbers of Chinese soldiers and the RCT was forced into a fighting withdrawal to more defensible positions south of the reservoir. Private Jerry Craig was one of the many men later reported as Missing In Action on December 2, 1950 as a result of the battle. His remains were exchanged by the Chinese and North Koreans in 1953, declared Dead and Unidentified. In 1956 they were interred in Punch Bowl National Memorial Cemetery, Honolulu, Hawaii from 1956 until his identification in September, 2013. His name is engraved on the Courts of the Missing at the American Battle Monument in the Honolulu Memorial. Many folks don't know that the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines each have a branch of Mortuary Service that are still looking for unaccounted soldiers to bring home from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and Iraq/Afghanistan. I certainly support and applaud their efforts. There are nine government agencies that are involved in this pursuit.
PFC Jerry Pat Craig was awarded the Purple Heart and Good Conduct Medals posthumously.
Parents: Carrie Dell Anderson Craig, Thomas Thaddeus (T.T.) Craig – deceased Siblings: All deceased: 3 brothers, 4 sisters, Thomas Craig, Royce Craig, Maureen Craig Bates, Millie Moline Cook, Leona Killingsworth, Ruby Craig, and Henry Madison Craig. 8 nieces and nephews, deceased: Velvinolita Cook, Filbert Cook, Beverly Cook, Tommy Craig, Ronnie Craig, Kenneth Craig, James Craig.
Survived by nieces and nephews: Niece of Lake Charles, LA; Niece of Perry, Florida; Nephew of Fair Acres, NM; Nephew of Colorado Springs, CO; Two Nephew; One Niece all of North Texas; a host of Great nephews and nieces.
It is the families desire to honor PFC Craig with a hero's homecoming. So they are asking everyone to show their American Patriotism by lining the funeral procession route to show our support for this True American Hero, who gave his life while defending our freedom.
The funeral procession left the Labby Memorial Funeral Home Chapel in Leesville at 1:30 pm., Thursday, December 19th, it traveled north on 171 then turn right on East Mechanic street, right onto Third Street then will turn left on University Parkway and traveled to the Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery. Escorts were the Patriot Guards, Combat Vets, Gray Ghosts, and other veteran groups.
Graveside service were held Thursday, December 19th, at the Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery, with full military services, by the 162ND Infrantry, Fort Polk, LA.
Service were under Labby Memorial Funeral Home Chapel in Leesville.
====
LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) -
Flipping through new forensic findings given to her by the military's Casualty Mortuary Affairs Center, Lake Charles' Anita Fields Gold recalls the little information she knows about her late uncle, Private First Class Jerry Pat Craig.
"He was 17 when he enlisted in the Army," she says. "He enlisted in May. He had just turned 17 the previous December".
Almost immediately, PFC Craig went to Korea to serve in the Korean War.
"On the second of December 1950, he was killed at Chosin Reservoir in North Korea," says Gold.
That was 63 years ago. PFC Craig was killed at Heartbreak Ridge. At that time, soldiers' bodies were filled with formaldehyde, killing any traceable DNA. He was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl in Hawaii and marked as unknown.
"There's an estimated 83,000 Americans who never came home from World War II, Korea and Vietnam," said Michael Mee, Chief Identifications with the Casualty Mortuary Affairs Center based out of Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Mee says a team of forensic anthropologists in Hawaii at the JPAC are constantly working to identify recovered remains, in hopes of matching them to one of the thousands of unaccounted for veterans.
"With the laboratories, technology, the advancements and ability to go back and review the records of these unnamed interments, they can actually run and compare databases," Mee said. "They can compare dental matches, they can compare chest radio graphs and sometime get DNA".
All of that data and evidence was presented to Gold.
"They compared the different points and there were 25 items of concordance between these [bones] and these and that's a very high rate for just this much structure of agreement between the X-ray and the actual body," she said.
"Far and away this is the most rewarding, fulfilling mission that I've ever been a part of so it's fantastic to brief the circumstances, bring back these fallen soldiers, airmen marines and sailors and meet with the families and to be a part of this whole process… it's an honor," Mee said.
Gold now finds herself planning the funeral for the uncle she can only remember from photographs. He'll be buried with full military honors at the Central Louisiana Military Cemetery in Leesville.
"For many families there's not closure until the body comes home," Gold said. "We didn't think we would ever see a body, so 63 years later we are seeing a body that's coming home."
Gold wants to the thank those who work in and out identifying unaccounted for servicemen and women.
"I want the army to know that I'm most appreciative of what they have done, what the whole military has done to identify those who are no longer to identify themselves."
It's a job that continues; honoring the many heroes of wars past and present, the wounded and fallen, in graves that are marked and unmarked, not to be forgotten.
PFC Craig will be buried on December 19, the day of his 81st birthday.
Copyright 2013 KPLC. All rights reserved.
====
Korean War Veteran Buried: Korean War Veteran Buried
Written by
Leigh Guidry The Town Talk, Alexandria, LA.
LEESVILLE — Sixty-three years is a long time to wait — but not too long, say family members who welcomed the remains of their uncle to Leesville on Thursday.
"Nobody's to give up," said Eleanor Tucker Grubbs, the niece of Private 1st Class Jerry Pat Craig whose remains were buried at Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery in Leesville. "Sixty-three years later, we're proof of that."
Grubbs' cousin, Anita Fields-Gold, was notified in November by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) that the body of an American soldier killed in Korea had been identified as their uncle.
Craig had served less than nine months when he was killed in action on Dec. 2, 1950, at the Chosin Reservoir. He had been serving with Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Division of the U.S. Army, and later was reported as missing in action.
Craig's remains were among 25 bodies exchanged by the Chinese and North Koreans in 1953, and he was declared dead and unidentified. The bodies were buried in the national memorial cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1956.
Originally, it was thought that his body could be one of 15 possible soldiers declared MIA, but eight were ruled out through chest X-rays and dental records taken when Craig joined the Army at 17. Further examination of those documents by a forensic anthropologist confirmed that some of the remains were Craig's.
"I am convinced this is my uncle," Fields-Gold said. "And I'm very comfortable putting him in a military cemetery. He deserved to spend eternity with his comrades."
For Grubbs, it was a moment for closure, as well as joy.
"It's a joy to know that God allowed him to come home," she said.
Craig's hometown was Panhandle, Texas, but the city of Leesville adopted him as one of its own and welcomed him Thursday with a procession through downtown. Many lined the street, waving American flags and saluting.
"(This) is for a man who gave his life so many years ago," Leesville resident Shirley Kyle said. "I'm so proud that our town wants to come out and support it."
Fellow resident Tabitha Mayo waved on the procession to honor Craig. She also attended to honor her father and grandfathers who served in the military.
"If this was my father or my grandfather and it was just me, I would want someone to be here to support him," she said.
The procession led to a funeral with full military honors at Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery on what would have been Craig's 81st birthday.
Fields-Gold called the event "a joyous homecoming" that finally returned "the broken link of our family chain."
She thanked the military and JPAC, an organization with the mission to identify those still missing from past conflicts through global search, recovery and laboratory operations. But she reminded attendants that JPAC has a daunting job with more than 7,000 Americans still unaccounted for from the Korean War alone.
====
We would also like to thank the KOREAN WAR PROJECT for there effort. SFC RET Duffie And Kathy
PFC JERRY PAT CRAIG
REMAINS IDENTIFIED 2013
32ND INFANTRY REGIMENT
HQ CO 1 BN
7TH INFANTRY DIVISION
ARMY
HOSTILE, DIED WHILE MISSING (MIA)
DATE OF LOSS: DECEMBER 2, 1950
SERVICE NUMBER: RA18347401
BORN: DECEMBER 19, 1932
HOME OR PLACE OF ENLISTMENT
PANHANDLE, TX
LOCATION OR BATTLE ZONE: CHOSIN RESERVOIR
TOWN OR AREA: EASTERN SHORE
BURIAL LOCATION
CENTRAL LOUISIANA MILITARY CEMETERY
Comments: Private First Class Craig was a member of Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. On December 2, 1950, he was severely wounded while fighting the enemy in North Korea. As he was being evacuated, his ambulance received a direct mortar hit. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on December 31, 1953. His remains were identified in October/November 2013. He will be buried on December 19, 2013, at Central Louisiana Military Cemetery.
FINAL DISPOSITION DATE: DECEMBER 31, 1953
KOREAN WAR PROJECT KEY NO: 6281
====
PFC Jerry Pat Craig was awarded the Purple Heart and Good Conduct Medals posthumously.
Parents: Carrie Dell Anderson Craig, Thomas Thaddeus (T.T.) Craig – deceased Siblings: All deceased: 3 brothers, 4 sisters, Thomas Craig, Royce Craig, Maureen Craig Bates, Millie Moline Cook, Leona Killingsworth, Ruby Craig, and Henry Madison Craig. 8 nieces and nephews, deceased: Velvinolita Cook, Filbert Cook, Beverly Cook, Tommy Craig, Ronnie Craig, Kenneth Craig, James Craig.
Survived by nieces and nephews: Niece of Lake Charles, LA; Niece of Perry, Florida; Nephew of Fair Acres, NM; Nephew of Colorado Springs, CO; Two Nephew; One Niece all of North Texas; a host of Great nephews and nieces.
It is the families desire to honor PFC Craig with a hero's homecoming. So they are asking everyone to show their American Patriotism by lining the funeral procession route to show our support for this True American Hero, who gave his life while defending our freedom.
The funeral procession left the Labby Memorial Funeral Home Chapel in Leesville at 1:30 pm., Thursday, December 19th, it traveled north on 171 then turn right on East Mechanic street, right onto Third Street then will turn left on University Parkway and traveled to the Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery. Escorts were the Patriot Guards, Combat Vets, Gray Ghosts, and other veteran groups.
Graveside service were held Thursday, December 19th, at the Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery, with full military services, by the 162ND Infrantry, Fort Polk, LA.
Service were under Labby Memorial Funeral Home Chapel in Leesville.
====
LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) -
Flipping through new forensic findings given to her by the military's Casualty Mortuary Affairs Center, Lake Charles' Anita Fields Gold recalls the little information she knows about her late uncle, Private First Class Jerry Pat Craig.
"He was 17 when he enlisted in the Army," she says. "He enlisted in May. He had just turned 17 the previous December".
Almost immediately, PFC Craig went to Korea to serve in the Korean War.
"On the second of December 1950, he was killed at Chosin Reservoir in North Korea," says Gold.
That was 63 years ago. PFC Craig was killed at Heartbreak Ridge. At that time, soldiers' bodies were filled with formaldehyde, killing any traceable DNA. He was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl in Hawaii and marked as unknown.
"There's an estimated 83,000 Americans who never came home from World War II, Korea and Vietnam," said Michael Mee, Chief Identifications with the Casualty Mortuary Affairs Center based out of Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Mee says a team of forensic anthropologists in Hawaii at the JPAC are constantly working to identify recovered remains, in hopes of matching them to one of the thousands of unaccounted for veterans.
"With the laboratories, technology, the advancements and ability to go back and review the records of these unnamed interments, they can actually run and compare databases," Mee said. "They can compare dental matches, they can compare chest radio graphs and sometime get DNA".
All of that data and evidence was presented to Gold.
"They compared the different points and there were 25 items of concordance between these [bones] and these and that's a very high rate for just this much structure of agreement between the X-ray and the actual body," she said.
"Far and away this is the most rewarding, fulfilling mission that I've ever been a part of so it's fantastic to brief the circumstances, bring back these fallen soldiers, airmen marines and sailors and meet with the families and to be a part of this whole process… it's an honor," Mee said.
Gold now finds herself planning the funeral for the uncle she can only remember from photographs. He'll be buried with full military honors at the Central Louisiana Military Cemetery in Leesville.
"For many families there's not closure until the body comes home," Gold said. "We didn't think we would ever see a body, so 63 years later we are seeing a body that's coming home."
Gold wants to the thank those who work in and out identifying unaccounted for servicemen and women.
"I want the army to know that I'm most appreciative of what they have done, what the whole military has done to identify those who are no longer to identify themselves."
It's a job that continues; honoring the many heroes of wars past and present, the wounded and fallen, in graves that are marked and unmarked, not to be forgotten.
PFC Craig will be buried on December 19, the day of his 81st birthday.
Copyright 2013 KPLC. All rights reserved.
====
Korean War Veteran Buried: Korean War Veteran Buried
Written by
Leigh Guidry The Town Talk, Alexandria, LA.
LEESVILLE — Sixty-three years is a long time to wait — but not too long, say family members who welcomed the remains of their uncle to Leesville on Thursday.
"Nobody's to give up," said Eleanor Tucker Grubbs, the niece of Private 1st Class Jerry Pat Craig whose remains were buried at Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery in Leesville. "Sixty-three years later, we're proof of that."
Grubbs' cousin, Anita Fields-Gold, was notified in November by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) that the body of an American soldier killed in Korea had been identified as their uncle.
Craig had served less than nine months when he was killed in action on Dec. 2, 1950, at the Chosin Reservoir. He had been serving with Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Division of the U.S. Army, and later was reported as missing in action.
Craig's remains were among 25 bodies exchanged by the Chinese and North Koreans in 1953, and he was declared dead and unidentified. The bodies were buried in the national memorial cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1956.
Originally, it was thought that his body could be one of 15 possible soldiers declared MIA, but eight were ruled out through chest X-rays and dental records taken when Craig joined the Army at 17. Further examination of those documents by a forensic anthropologist confirmed that some of the remains were Craig's.
"I am convinced this is my uncle," Fields-Gold said. "And I'm very comfortable putting him in a military cemetery. He deserved to spend eternity with his comrades."
For Grubbs, it was a moment for closure, as well as joy.
"It's a joy to know that God allowed him to come home," she said.
Craig's hometown was Panhandle, Texas, but the city of Leesville adopted him as one of its own and welcomed him Thursday with a procession through downtown. Many lined the street, waving American flags and saluting.
"(This) is for a man who gave his life so many years ago," Leesville resident Shirley Kyle said. "I'm so proud that our town wants to come out and support it."
Fellow resident Tabitha Mayo waved on the procession to honor Craig. She also attended to honor her father and grandfathers who served in the military.
"If this was my father or my grandfather and it was just me, I would want someone to be here to support him," she said.
The procession led to a funeral with full military honors at Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery on what would have been Craig's 81st birthday.
Fields-Gold called the event "a joyous homecoming" that finally returned "the broken link of our family chain."
She thanked the military and JPAC, an organization with the mission to identify those still missing from past conflicts through global search, recovery and laboratory operations. But she reminded attendants that JPAC has a daunting job with more than 7,000 Americans still unaccounted for from the Korean War alone.
====
We would also like to thank the KOREAN WAR PROJECT for there effort. SFC RET Duffie And Kathy
PFC JERRY PAT CRAIG
REMAINS IDENTIFIED 2013
32ND INFANTRY REGIMENT
HQ CO 1 BN
7TH INFANTRY DIVISION
ARMY
HOSTILE, DIED WHILE MISSING (MIA)
DATE OF LOSS: DECEMBER 2, 1950
SERVICE NUMBER: RA18347401
BORN: DECEMBER 19, 1932
HOME OR PLACE OF ENLISTMENT
PANHANDLE, TX
LOCATION OR BATTLE ZONE: CHOSIN RESERVOIR
TOWN OR AREA: EASTERN SHORE
BURIAL LOCATION
CENTRAL LOUISIANA MILITARY CEMETERY
Comments: Private First Class Craig was a member of Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. On December 2, 1950, he was severely wounded while fighting the enemy in North Korea. As he was being evacuated, his ambulance received a direct mortar hit. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on December 31, 1953. His remains were identified in October/November 2013. He will be buried on December 19, 2013, at Central Louisiana Military Cemetery.
FINAL DISPOSITION DATE: DECEMBER 31, 1953
KOREAN WAR PROJECT KEY NO: 6281
====
PFC Jerry Pat Craig was age 17 years and 11 months at time of death. Born in Panhandle, Texas on December 19, 1932 - would have been 81 years old on his entombment date if he had survived. He was a member of the Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Division of the United States Army. Killed in action on the Eastern Shore of the Chosin Reservoir, "Heartbreak Ridge" North Korea on December 2, 1950. His Regimental Combat Team was attacked and overwhelmed by superior numbers of Chinese soldiers and the RCT was forced into a fighting withdrawal to more defensible positions south of the reservoir. Private Jerry Craig was one of the many men later reported as Missing In Action on December 2, 1950 as a result of the battle. His remains were exchanged by the Chinese and North Koreans in 1953, declared Dead and Unidentified. In 1956 they were interred in Punch Bowl National Memorial Cemetery, Honolulu, Hawaii from 1956 until his identification in September, 2013. His name is engraved on the Courts of the Missing at the American Battle Monument in the Honolulu Memorial. Many folks don't know that the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines each have a branch of Mortuary Service that are still looking for unaccounted soldiers to bring home from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and Iraq/Afghanistan. I certainly support and applaud their efforts. There are nine government agencies that are involved in this pursuit.
PFC Jerry Pat Craig was awarded the Purple Heart and Good Conduct Medals posthumously.
Parents: Carrie Dell Anderson Craig, Thomas Thaddeus (T.T.) Craig – deceased Siblings: All deceased: 3 brothers, 4 sisters, Thomas Craig, Royce Craig, Maureen Craig Bates, Millie Moline Cook, Leona Killingsworth, Ruby Craig, and Henry Madison Craig. 8 nieces and nephews, deceased: Velvinolita Cook, Filbert Cook, Beverly Cook, Tommy Craig, Ronnie Craig, Kenneth Craig, James Craig.
Survived by nieces and nephews: Niece of Lake Charles, LA; Niece of Perry, Florida; Nephew of Fair Acres, NM; Nephew of Colorado Springs, CO; Two Nephew; One Niece all of North Texas; a host of Great nephews and nieces.
It is the families desire to honor PFC Craig with a hero's homecoming. So they are asking everyone to show their American Patriotism by lining the funeral procession route to show our support for this True American Hero, who gave his life while defending our freedom.
The funeral procession left the Labby Memorial Funeral Home Chapel in Leesville at 1:30 pm., Thursday, December 19th, it traveled north on 171 then turn right on East Mechanic street, right onto Third Street then will turn left on University Parkway and traveled to the Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery. Escorts were the Patriot Guards, Combat Vets, Gray Ghosts, and other veteran groups.
Graveside service were held Thursday, December 19th, at the Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery, with full military services, by the 162ND Infrantry, Fort Polk, LA.
Service were under Labby Memorial Funeral Home Chapel in Leesville.
====
LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) -
Flipping through new forensic findings given to her by the military's Casualty Mortuary Affairs Center, Lake Charles' Anita Fields Gold recalls the little information she knows about her late uncle, Private First Class Jerry Pat Craig.
"He was 17 when he enlisted in the Army," she says. "He enlisted in May. He had just turned 17 the previous December".
Almost immediately, PFC Craig went to Korea to serve in the Korean War.
"On the second of December 1950, he was killed at Chosin Reservoir in North Korea," says Gold.
That was 63 years ago. PFC Craig was killed at Heartbreak Ridge. At that time, soldiers' bodies were filled with formaldehyde, killing any traceable DNA. He was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl in Hawaii and marked as unknown.
"There's an estimated 83,000 Americans who never came home from World War II, Korea and Vietnam," said Michael Mee, Chief Identifications with the Casualty Mortuary Affairs Center based out of Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Mee says a team of forensic anthropologists in Hawaii at the JPAC are constantly working to identify recovered remains, in hopes of matching them to one of the thousands of unaccounted for veterans.
"With the laboratories, technology, the advancements and ability to go back and review the records of these unnamed interments, they can actually run and compare databases," Mee said. "They can compare dental matches, they can compare chest radio graphs and sometime get DNA".
All of that data and evidence was presented to Gold.
"They compared the different points and there were 25 items of concordance between these [bones] and these and that's a very high rate for just this much structure of agreement between the X-ray and the actual body," she said.
"Far and away this is the most rewarding, fulfilling mission that I've ever been a part of so it's fantastic to brief the circumstances, bring back these fallen soldiers, airmen marines and sailors and meet with the families and to be a part of this whole process… it's an honor," Mee said.
Gold now finds herself planning the funeral for the uncle she can only remember from photographs. He'll be buried with full military honors at the Central Louisiana Military Cemetery in Leesville.
"For many families there's not closure until the body comes home," Gold said. "We didn't think we would ever see a body, so 63 years later we are seeing a body that's coming home."
Gold wants to the thank those who work in and out identifying unaccounted for servicemen and women.
"I want the army to know that I'm most appreciative of what they have done, what the whole military has done to identify those who are no longer to identify themselves."
It's a job that continues; honoring the many heroes of wars past and present, the wounded and fallen, in graves that are marked and unmarked, not to be forgotten.
PFC Craig will be buried on December 19, the day of his 81st birthday.
Copyright 2013 KPLC. All rights reserved.
====
Korean War Veteran Buried: Korean War Veteran Buried
Written by
Leigh Guidry The Town Talk, Alexandria, LA.
LEESVILLE — Sixty-three years is a long time to wait — but not too long, say family members who welcomed the remains of their uncle to Leesville on Thursday.
"Nobody's to give up," said Eleanor Tucker Grubbs, the niece of Private 1st Class Jerry Pat Craig whose remains were buried at Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery in Leesville. "Sixty-three years later, we're proof of that."
Grubbs' cousin, Anita Fields-Gold, was notified in November by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) that the body of an American soldier killed in Korea had been identified as their uncle.
Craig had served less than nine months when he was killed in action on Dec. 2, 1950, at the Chosin Reservoir. He had been serving with Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Division of the U.S. Army, and later was reported as missing in action.
Craig's remains were among 25 bodies exchanged by the Chinese and North Koreans in 1953, and he was declared dead and unidentified. The bodies were buried in the national memorial cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1956.
Originally, it was thought that his body could be one of 15 possible soldiers declared MIA, but eight were ruled out through chest X-rays and dental records taken when Craig joined the Army at 17. Further examination of those documents by a forensic anthropologist confirmed that some of the remains were Craig's.
"I am convinced this is my uncle," Fields-Gold said. "And I'm very comfortable putting him in a military cemetery. He deserved to spend eternity with his comrades."
For Grubbs, it was a moment for closure, as well as joy.
"It's a joy to know that God allowed him to come home," she said.
Craig's hometown was Panhandle, Texas, but the city of Leesville adopted him as one of its own and welcomed him Thursday with a procession through downtown. Many lined the street, waving American flags and saluting.
"(This) is for a man who gave his life so many years ago," Leesville resident Shirley Kyle said. "I'm so proud that our town wants to come out and support it."
Fellow resident Tabitha Mayo waved on the procession to honor Craig. She also attended to honor her father and grandfathers who served in the military.
"If this was my father or my grandfather and it was just me, I would want someone to be here to support him," she said.
The procession led to a funeral with full military honors at Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery on what would have been Craig's 81st birthday.
Fields-Gold called the event "a joyous homecoming" that finally returned "the broken link of our family chain."
She thanked the military and JPAC, an organization with the mission to identify those still missing from past conflicts through global search, recovery and laboratory operations. But she reminded attendants that JPAC has a daunting job with more than 7,000 Americans still unaccounted for from the Korean War alone.
====
We would also like to thank the KOREAN WAR PROJECT for there effort. SFC RET Duffie And Kathy
PFC JERRY PAT CRAIG
REMAINS IDENTIFIED 2013
32ND INFANTRY REGIMENT
HQ CO 1 BN
7TH INFANTRY DIVISION
ARMY
HOSTILE, DIED WHILE MISSING (MIA)
DATE OF LOSS: DECEMBER 2, 1950
SERVICE NUMBER: RA18347401
BORN: DECEMBER 19, 1932
HOME OR PLACE OF ENLISTMENT
PANHANDLE, TX
LOCATION OR BATTLE ZONE: CHOSIN RESERVOIR
TOWN OR AREA: EASTERN SHORE
BURIAL LOCATION
CENTRAL LOUISIANA MILITARY CEMETERY
Comments: Private First Class Craig was a member of Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. On December 2, 1950, he was severely wounded while fighting the enemy in North Korea. As he was being evacuated, his ambulance received a direct mortar hit. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on December 31, 1953. His remains were identified in October/November 2013. He will be buried on December 19, 2013, at Central Louisiana Military Cemetery.
FINAL DISPOSITION DATE: DECEMBER 31, 1953
KOREAN WAR PROJECT KEY NO: 6281
====
PFC Jerry Pat Craig was awarded the Purple Heart and Good Conduct Medals posthumously.
Parents: Carrie Dell Anderson Craig, Thomas Thaddeus (T.T.) Craig – deceased Siblings: All deceased: 3 brothers, 4 sisters, Thomas Craig, Royce Craig, Maureen Craig Bates, Millie Moline Cook, Leona Killingsworth, Ruby Craig, and Henry Madison Craig. 8 nieces and nephews, deceased: Velvinolita Cook, Filbert Cook, Beverly Cook, Tommy Craig, Ronnie Craig, Kenneth Craig, James Craig.
Survived by nieces and nephews: Niece of Lake Charles, LA; Niece of Perry, Florida; Nephew of Fair Acres, NM; Nephew of Colorado Springs, CO; Two Nephew; One Niece all of North Texas; a host of Great nephews and nieces.
It is the families desire to honor PFC Craig with a hero's homecoming. So they are asking everyone to show their American Patriotism by lining the funeral procession route to show our support for this True American Hero, who gave his life while defending our freedom.
The funeral procession left the Labby Memorial Funeral Home Chapel in Leesville at 1:30 pm., Thursday, December 19th, it traveled north on 171 then turn right on East Mechanic street, right onto Third Street then will turn left on University Parkway and traveled to the Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery. Escorts were the Patriot Guards, Combat Vets, Gray Ghosts, and other veteran groups.
Graveside service were held Thursday, December 19th, at the Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery, with full military services, by the 162ND Infrantry, Fort Polk, LA.
Service were under Labby Memorial Funeral Home Chapel in Leesville.
====
LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) -
Flipping through new forensic findings given to her by the military's Casualty Mortuary Affairs Center, Lake Charles' Anita Fields Gold recalls the little information she knows about her late uncle, Private First Class Jerry Pat Craig.
"He was 17 when he enlisted in the Army," she says. "He enlisted in May. He had just turned 17 the previous December".
Almost immediately, PFC Craig went to Korea to serve in the Korean War.
"On the second of December 1950, he was killed at Chosin Reservoir in North Korea," says Gold.
That was 63 years ago. PFC Craig was killed at Heartbreak Ridge. At that time, soldiers' bodies were filled with formaldehyde, killing any traceable DNA. He was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl in Hawaii and marked as unknown.
"There's an estimated 83,000 Americans who never came home from World War II, Korea and Vietnam," said Michael Mee, Chief Identifications with the Casualty Mortuary Affairs Center based out of Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Mee says a team of forensic anthropologists in Hawaii at the JPAC are constantly working to identify recovered remains, in hopes of matching them to one of the thousands of unaccounted for veterans.
"With the laboratories, technology, the advancements and ability to go back and review the records of these unnamed interments, they can actually run and compare databases," Mee said. "They can compare dental matches, they can compare chest radio graphs and sometime get DNA".
All of that data and evidence was presented to Gold.
"They compared the different points and there were 25 items of concordance between these [bones] and these and that's a very high rate for just this much structure of agreement between the X-ray and the actual body," she said.
"Far and away this is the most rewarding, fulfilling mission that I've ever been a part of so it's fantastic to brief the circumstances, bring back these fallen soldiers, airmen marines and sailors and meet with the families and to be a part of this whole process… it's an honor," Mee said.
Gold now finds herself planning the funeral for the uncle she can only remember from photographs. He'll be buried with full military honors at the Central Louisiana Military Cemetery in Leesville.
"For many families there's not closure until the body comes home," Gold said. "We didn't think we would ever see a body, so 63 years later we are seeing a body that's coming home."
Gold wants to the thank those who work in and out identifying unaccounted for servicemen and women.
"I want the army to know that I'm most appreciative of what they have done, what the whole military has done to identify those who are no longer to identify themselves."
It's a job that continues; honoring the many heroes of wars past and present, the wounded and fallen, in graves that are marked and unmarked, not to be forgotten.
PFC Craig will be buried on December 19, the day of his 81st birthday.
Copyright 2013 KPLC. All rights reserved.
====
Korean War Veteran Buried: Korean War Veteran Buried
Written by
Leigh Guidry The Town Talk, Alexandria, LA.
LEESVILLE — Sixty-three years is a long time to wait — but not too long, say family members who welcomed the remains of their uncle to Leesville on Thursday.
"Nobody's to give up," said Eleanor Tucker Grubbs, the niece of Private 1st Class Jerry Pat Craig whose remains were buried at Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery in Leesville. "Sixty-three years later, we're proof of that."
Grubbs' cousin, Anita Fields-Gold, was notified in November by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) that the body of an American soldier killed in Korea had been identified as their uncle.
Craig had served less than nine months when he was killed in action on Dec. 2, 1950, at the Chosin Reservoir. He had been serving with Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Division of the U.S. Army, and later was reported as missing in action.
Craig's remains were among 25 bodies exchanged by the Chinese and North Koreans in 1953, and he was declared dead and unidentified. The bodies were buried in the national memorial cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1956.
Originally, it was thought that his body could be one of 15 possible soldiers declared MIA, but eight were ruled out through chest X-rays and dental records taken when Craig joined the Army at 17. Further examination of those documents by a forensic anthropologist confirmed that some of the remains were Craig's.
"I am convinced this is my uncle," Fields-Gold said. "And I'm very comfortable putting him in a military cemetery. He deserved to spend eternity with his comrades."
For Grubbs, it was a moment for closure, as well as joy.
"It's a joy to know that God allowed him to come home," she said.
Craig's hometown was Panhandle, Texas, but the city of Leesville adopted him as one of its own and welcomed him Thursday with a procession through downtown. Many lined the street, waving American flags and saluting.
"(This) is for a man who gave his life so many years ago," Leesville resident Shirley Kyle said. "I'm so proud that our town wants to come out and support it."
Fellow resident Tabitha Mayo waved on the procession to honor Craig. She also attended to honor her father and grandfathers who served in the military.
"If this was my father or my grandfather and it was just me, I would want someone to be here to support him," she said.
The procession led to a funeral with full military honors at Central Louisiana Veterans Cemetery on what would have been Craig's 81st birthday.
Fields-Gold called the event "a joyous homecoming" that finally returned "the broken link of our family chain."
She thanked the military and JPAC, an organization with the mission to identify those still missing from past conflicts through global search, recovery and laboratory operations. But she reminded attendants that JPAC has a daunting job with more than 7,000 Americans still unaccounted for from the Korean War alone.
====
We would also like to thank the KOREAN WAR PROJECT for there effort. SFC RET Duffie And Kathy
PFC JERRY PAT CRAIG
REMAINS IDENTIFIED 2013
32ND INFANTRY REGIMENT
HQ CO 1 BN
7TH INFANTRY DIVISION
ARMY
HOSTILE, DIED WHILE MISSING (MIA)
DATE OF LOSS: DECEMBER 2, 1950
SERVICE NUMBER: RA18347401
BORN: DECEMBER 19, 1932
HOME OR PLACE OF ENLISTMENT
PANHANDLE, TX
LOCATION OR BATTLE ZONE: CHOSIN RESERVOIR
TOWN OR AREA: EASTERN SHORE
BURIAL LOCATION
CENTRAL LOUISIANA MILITARY CEMETERY
Comments: Private First Class Craig was a member of Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. On December 2, 1950, he was severely wounded while fighting the enemy in North Korea. As he was being evacuated, his ambulance received a direct mortar hit. He was listed as Missing in Action and was presumed dead on December 31, 1953. His remains were identified in October/November 2013. He will be buried on December 19, 2013, at Central Louisiana Military Cemetery.
FINAL DISPOSITION DATE: DECEMBER 31, 1953
KOREAN WAR PROJECT KEY NO: 6281
====
Inscription
PFC US Army Korea
Purple Heart
KIA
Beloved Uncle
