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Korean War vet's remains found

By: Mike O'Neal
(Contact)

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Nina Ruth Clark
Faye Cooper

A soldier listed as missing in action since the Korean War soon will be laid to rest next to his father and mother in a Bryant, Ala., cemetery.

“I didn’t understand from the first call that they’d found his remains,” Faye Cooper, 76, said of notification that her brother’s body had been found near the town of Unsan, North Korea. “You think you’d want it to come (notice confirming the death), but if I could put it off, I would.”

One of eight siblings — two boys, six girls — Hershel White was 17 when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1947 and 20 when the 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, was ordered to Korea, recalled his sister, Nina Ruth Clark.

“Within a month, he was gone,” she said.

Army documents note that Cpl. White’s unit was deployed north and west of the town of Unsan when two Chinese Army divisions struck, forcing American forces to withdraw toward the Kuryong River.

Staff Photo by D. Patrick Harding
Faye Cooper, left, sister of Sgt. John Hershel White, and her son, Bruce Cooper, talk during a news conference about family memories and the feelings they have now that White's remains will be returned shortly. White was listed as MIA in 1950 while serving in Korea.

Reported as missing in action on Nov. 2, 1950, Cpl. White was promoted to sergeant and his status amended to killed in action in 1953.

On April 12, 2007, the Democratic People’s Republic of (North) Korea repatriated to the United States six boxes of human remains excavated in 2006 from the vicinity of Unsan. In March, Sgt. White’s remains were identified among the six by forensic testing, clearing the way for a casualty of the Korean War being laid to rest alongside his mother and father.

“I can cry my heart out when I think he’ll be put by our mother,” Mrs. Cooper said. “She always told us he’d come back and I’d dream of him coming back. I’m not relieved, but now he is home.”

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