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The remains of 18-year-old Medal of Honor recipient Army Pfc. Luther Herschel Story have returned home to Georgia after nearly 73 years.
Story, part of the 9th Infantry Regiment, was wounded during the Korean War and stayed behind on Sept. 1, 1950 to cover the withdrawal of his fellow soldiers as North Korean troops closed in.
Story was never seen alive again, and Judy Wade – Story's niece – told The Associated Press that the family believed he would never be found.
However, in April, the U.S. military revealed lab tests that had matched DNA from Wade and her late mother to the bones of an unidentified American soldier recovered from Korea in October 1950.
This undated photo shows the late Army Cpl. Luther H. Story. The Army said Friday, May 19, 2023, that the remains of Cpl. Luther H. Story will be buried May 29 at Andersonville National Cemetery near the soldier's hometown of Americus, Georgia. President Biden announced last month that scientists had positively identified Story's remains. (U.S. Army via AP)
A case agent told her that the remains belonged to her uncle.
A burial for Story, with military honors, was scheduled for Monday, Memorial Day, at the Andersonville National Cemetery.
Story's casket had a police escort through the streets of Americus, Georgia, on Wednesday upon its arrival.
In Americus, Story's hometown, his portrait and the Medal of Honor are displayed side by side at the National Infantry Museum.
His father received the nation's highest honor at a Pentagon ceremony in 1951, and Story was also posthumously promoted to corporal.
The entrance to Andersonville National Historic Site in Georgia. (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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"I don’t have to worry about him anymore," said Wade, who was born four years after her uncle went missing overseas. "I’m just glad he’s home."
President Biden announced the news last month, joined by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
"The Republic of Korea and the United States worked together to identify Corporal Story’s remains among those buried as a Korean War Unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific," the president explained.
Former President Carter speaks to the congregation at Maranatha Baptist Church before teaching Sunday school in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, on April 28, 2019. (Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
"Today, we can return him to his family and to his rest, with all the honors he deserves, because we never forget our heroes," Biden said of Story.
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Former President Carter, 98, also celebrated Story's return. Wade said that, when Story was young, his family lived and worked in Plains on land owned by Carter's father, James Earl Carter Sr.
Jill Stuckey, superintendent of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, said she shared the news with the former president as soon as she heard it.
"Oh, there was a big smile on his face," Stuckey recalled to the agency. "He was very excited to know that a hero was coming home."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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