60 years later, Korean War POW's fate told to Pulaski family

From New River Valley.com: 60 years later, Korean War POW's fate told to Pulaski family

PULASKI — After more than 60 years of wondering, the Lindsey family has finally gotten an answer to a question that's always weighed heavily on them: What happened to Freeman?

Freeman Hopkins Lindsey, called Corky by his family and friends, died in a prisoner of war camp in the Chosin Reservoir area of Korea in February 1951, according to military records.

But for all the years since, he was missing in action. Until two weeks ago. Lindsey's surviving family members, including his niece, Dee Ann Lindsey, received a letter from the Department of Defense that Corky Lindsey's remains had been identified.

It took a few hours to sink in for the family that had waited so many years for an answer.

"After a few hours, it hit me," Dee Ann Lindsey said. "I never thought they would identify his remains in my lifetime."

Lindsey was identified using mitochondrial DNA compared to blood samples from his brothers Charles and Robert Lindsey. Dee Ann Lindsey is Charles' daughter. He died in 2004.

Between 1991 and 1994, North Korea gave the United States 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the co-mingled remains of 200 to 400 United States military service members, according to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, the branch of the U.S. military that identifies remains of service personnel. Corky Lindsey's remains were spread among those boxes and other remains collected in 1997, according to a 200-page report received by the family from the Department of Defense.

At first, Charles and Robert Lindsey were hesitant to give blood for the DNA samples, Dee Ann Lindsey said, because they thought it might be a scam and because it brought up painful memories for the brothers.

"I told them, I don't want him forgotten," she said. "When we're gone, there may be no one left to remember him."

Some families have been wary of giving DNA samples, said Ted Barker, one of the founders of the nonprofit organization the Korean War Project.

"Because a blood sample had to be taken, people were leery, especially when it's for governmental use," Barker said. "For a lot of people, it reopens old wounds."

Barker and his brother Hal started the Korean War Project as a website in 1995, with a goal to self-publish Hal Barker's book, "Return to Heartbreak Ridge." The brothers soon began receiving requests for information. When Dee Ann Lindsey found the Korean War Project in 2000, she asked the Barkers for assistance in the family's search for information about Corky Lindsey.

"They've provided so much help to the family," Dee Ann Lindsey said. "I didn't know anything about the Korean War until I got online and looked it up, and I found the Korean War Project."

Analysis by JPAC determined that Corky Lindsey had died of malnutrition, as was often the case in the prisoner of war camps, Barker said.

"There were a lot of deaths from dysentery and malnutrition around that time," Barker said.

More than 2,000 were taken prisoner in the Korean War, and as of June, there were 7,993 service members unaccounted for, according to the Department of Defense.

Corky Lindsey was declared missing in action Dec. 6, 1950. But in a twist of fate, the family already knew before they were notified by the U.S. Army.

Robert Lindsey, who was 14 in 1950, was watching a newsreel at the time in a theater about the fighting in Korea when he saw his brother being taken prisoner on screen, said Kate Lindsey, Robert Lindsey's widow.

"He had to be taken home by the manager to his mother because he was so upset," she said. "He never got over that."

Because her grandparents, father and uncles are all deceased, Dee Ann Lindsey is Corky Lindsey's next of kin. When he died at 20 years old, he was unmarried and had no children.

Although Dee Ann Lindsey never met her uncle, she said she always knew of him. Her father and uncle rarely talked about him when she was growing up in Pulaski, but when they did, they recalled Corky Lindsey fondly.

"Daddy always said he [Corky] was the best of the brothers," Dee Ann Lindsey said.

Charles Lindsey grew up thinking of his brother, who was two years older, as a role model. The few times he talked about him with his family, Charles Lindsey recounted playing baseball and working in the fields cutting tobacco and sugarcane. They were part of a family of eight brothers, including Elmer Lindsey, who served in World War II, and one sister, and grew up very poor.

"There was a hole in the family, and a sadness," Dee Ann Lindsey said.

She said her father even joined the Army, hoping he would be able to find Corky Lindsey.

Although the brothers grew up farming in Indiana, Charles Lindsey requested that if his brother's remains were ever identified, he be buried with the family in Pulaski.

"We're the kind of family that believes they're together spiritually, but this means they're together physically," Dee Ann Lindsey said.

A service is tentatively planned for Sept. 30 at Seagle Funeral Home in Pulaski and a funeral with full military honors on Oct. 1 at Oakwood Cemetery, according to the family. A family member from North Carolina, Freeman Keith Lindsey-named for his uncle-and a minister, will perform the funeral service.

For the Lindsey family, the service will not only provide closure to a sad piece of family history, but also a way to honor other military veterans, they said.

"This service is for him, but it's also for the veterans who survived, those who died in battle, those who are still missing and those who have yet to be brought home," Dee Ann Lindsey said. "This is not just about him."