Korean War POW To Be Buried After 62 Years
WYLIE (CBSDFW.COM) - Helen White quietly sits on the couch thumbing through all the paper work she's received about her cousin, Army Private First Class Weldon Alonzo Davis.
62 years after being captured the Korean war POW is finally home again.
His casket is draped with the American Flag and waits to be moved to Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. "I didn't think they would ever find him," says White "It's kind of relief."
According to Department of Defense records, Davis died in a prisoner of war camp in 1951 of malnutrition and pneumonia.
After years of searching, his body was found in a shallow grave with more than 30 other POW's in North Korea. "It was kind of hard to get him out of North Korea."
His only relatives are cousins, including White who lives in Wylie. Just before Christmas her DNA helped identify Davis. Military recovery teams matched DNA from his jaw bones. "What is bad is his grandmother won't know it," explains White as she holds back tears.
She says Davis' grandmother raised him and she remembers the two growing up on a farm in Tioga. "He was just normal pesky little cousin," says White "He would take things away from me chase me."
She also remembers how much Davis wanted to serve and follow in his uncle's footsteps.
In fact, she says his grandmother even helped sign papers for him and changed his birthdate, "He joined the Navy - he was 16 and when they found out he was 16-years-old they discharged him."
Decades later White says she's just grateful her hero is finally getting a proper burial. "I'm glad we found him in my life time," says White "Real glad."
Davis will be buried with military honors Wednesday at 1:30 at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.
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