Identified Body Gives Family Closure
posted 11:31 pm Sun April 06, 2008 - Danville, VA
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A local family has been waiting 57 years for closure after the death of a loved one at war. Now, they are finally getting it. The U.S. Military has identified the remains of Danville area Private First Class Elwood Reynolds.
He was killed during the Korean War and the family says decades of uncertainty are now over.
Arlene Green, Sister - "We are so happy we can't contain it."
For decades family members of Elwood Reynolds have been wondering.
Barbara Scearce, Sister - "You have the dream sometime that he is still alive and you are going to see him and there is still hope that they made a mistake and he's not dead."
The military says he died in 1950 fighting Chinese forces in North Korea. His body was never recovered.
Green - "It's sort of a mourning continually. There is no closure. And that little thought in the back of your head is always, could he still be alive somewhere?"
Now they can give him a hometown funeral with proper burial and full military honors. Stanley Reynolds was young when his brother Elwood died but says this is a defining moment for his sister Barbara.
Stanley Reynolds, Brother - "She's waited 57 years and prayed and longed for this day. It was a great day for me because of her, knowing that is was closure for her."
Green - "57 years is a long long time, but there is always hope and we are shouting happy."
The family describes Elwood as an attractive young man who loved riding his car around town. Finding his remains gives them the freedom to remember his life without thinking "what if."
Green - "Now it's over, It's over. We know. He is in heaven with the rest of our people."
Scearce - "We know now that he is home with Jesus. We know he made it right while he was there. He wrote mama and said he made is right with the Lord."
And soon -- they say -- they will all be together. The U.S. Military worked with counterparts in North Korea on excavations. Then DNA evidence confirmed remains found there belonged to Reynolds. His funeral will be on the 18th.
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