'Never Leave A Fallen Comrade': Korean War Vet Gets Proper Goodbye After 70 Years
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Seventy years after he was killed and missing in action, a Minnesota Korean War veteran is finally home.
Army Sgt. David Sewell of Walker, was laid to rest at Fort Snelling with full military honors. The 30-year-old soldier was killed during one of the war's deadliest engagements.
And as WCCO's Bill Hudson explains, a 2018 Presidential summit led to his return.
In the winter of 1950, the Battle of Chosin Reservoir was among the Korean War's most harrowing.
Surprised in bitter cold and badly outnumbered, thousands of U.S. troops were killed or missing.
On Nov. 28, Sgt. Sewell was pronounced missing in action and presumed dead.
Nearly 70 years later, his family can finally gather for a proper goodbye.
"Being here today is our way to say thank you," Col. Simon Schaefer said. "Even 70 years later to say thank you for the sacrifices the hardships we know that they went through."
Sewell's remains were among the 55 U.S. soldiers turned over in 2018 -- following the summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
"It's comfort for all of us that serve to know we will never leave a fallen comrade," Schaefer said.
With a smattering of family and friends, under blue summer skies, an Army honor guard paid Sewell a fitting tribute. Laid to rest at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in full military honors.
"The family that could be here today know it means the world to them to know that Sgt. Sewell is now resting in his home," Schaefer said.
The sergeant's remains were positively identified through DNA at a military forensic lab in Hawaii.