FURLEY, Kan. (AP) - An American soldier has been buried in rural Sedgwick County after dying in a North Korean prisoner of war camp in 1951.
The U.S. Army and Cpl. Wayne Minard’s family buried him Saturday outside unincorporated Furley. Authorities said Minard starved to death, The Wichita Eagle (https://j.mp/2g3yEdA ) reported.
He was laid to rest next to his mother, Bertha, who died nine months after his death. One of Minard’s family members said Bertha Minard never forgave herself for letting her son join the Army while still a teenager.
A military search and recovery team found Minard’s remains in 2005 and identified them earlier this year.
Included in attendance were Minard’s nieces, nephews and kids from his family. An Army honor guard soldier placed three spent shells inside the folded American flag on Minard’s casket. The shells were from rifles that had just fired a 21-gun salute over the late soldier’s grave.
After fighting as an infantry soldier in battles in Korea, the Chinese army helped the North Korean army and Minard was captured. In North Korean prison camps, prisoners were given very little food, and many ended up starving in freezing temperatures.
“He was not one of the strongest kids around, because of the polio,” Minard’s niece Janet Stubbs said, citing the late soldier’s childhood polio before entering the military. Minard lasted three months in the prison camp, dying in February 1951.
“My grandmother swore that she knew the moment when he died,” Stubbs said. “He came to her in a dream.”
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Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, https://www.kansas.com
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