(Couresty photo via the Press-Telegraph)
It's been 65 years since his death, but Army Cpl. Robert V. Witt is finally heading home.
The 20-year-old soldier from Bellflower, Calif., is estimated to have died in January of 1951 during the Korean War, around the time he was reported missing after his battalion was attacked by Chinese forces during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. While the communist nation returned the remains of some U.S. troops in 1954, Witt's weren't among them, and he's been missing in action ever since.
From the Press-Telegram report:
In July 2000, a joint U.S./North Korean team excavated a burial site near Hwaong-Ri Village, and recovered additional human remains.
The only remains of Witt that were found in the boxes and the excavation site were his two femurs. Scientists from the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency examined historical information, including eyewitness reports and troop locations, and dental records to help identify them.
In 2008, scientists from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory contacted the Witt family and told them that DNA analysis might be the final puzzle piece to confirm the remains’ identity. Shortly thereafter, Witt’s mother and two brothers, Charles and Ron, submitted DNA samples.
The family periodically received letters from the agencies updating them on the project, said Valerie Davis, Witt’s niece.
“I didn’t think I would hear anything,” Davis said. “My mom didn’t think she would be alive to hear the news.”
“He was the uncle I never knew,” Davis said. “I wish I had the opportunity to know him.”
Witt's remains were returned to his younger brother, Laverne Minnick, now 82 years old.