Columbus County ties mined to identify Korean War soldier's remains

From FayObserver: Columbus County ties mined to identify Korean War soldier's remains

TABOR CITY - Pfc. Clarence Erskin Lane went missing more than 60 years ago in the Korean War.
Finding a living relative of the Columbus County native may be key to identifying his remains, said Harold Davis, an American Legion representative from Wilmington.
Davis is looking for a blood relative of Lane to compare DNA with remains of unidentified Americans recovered from Korea. About 8,000 Americans remain unaccounted for from the war.
Born Aug. 29, 1929, Lane would be 83 this month. Lane was assigned to the Army's 7th Infantry Division, 32nd Infantry Regiment, C Company when he was lost early in the Korean War. He is believed to have been killed Nov. 30, 1950, Davis said.
Working on the eastern side of North Korea in brutally cold weather, Lane's regiment was overrun "by a superior number of Chinese soldiers" during the battle of Chosin Reservoir, David said.
More than 30 operations have been carried out in Korea to recover the remains of servicemen. The remains are sent to Hawaii for DNA collection. Efforts are under way to compare the samples with living relatives.
"Once remains are identified, they are returned to the family for proper burial," according to the website for the American Legion in North Carolina.
With so much time passed, the military has lost contact with many of the family members of missing servicemen from Korea, which has prompted the American Legion's effort.
That's what brings Davis into the search. A combat veteran of the Korean War who lives in Wilmington, he's made it his mission to help bring closure to families who don't know what happened to their loved ones on the battlefield.
"I know how the conditions were when these men were lost," Davis said in an email. "My God for some reason brought me home to live a life and have a family. I am truly grateful. I cannot bring back one POW/MIA but I can locate family members to provide DNA to identify remains. That is what I have done for the past nine years."
Davis has limited information about Lane's family history. He believes Lane was a son of Nora Erskin Todd Lane, who was born Oct. 15, 1889, in South Carolina and whose parents were Ellis Todd and Mary Jane Todd. The mother was married to John G. Lane.
Lane apparently had a half sister who married Elmer Lee Wright, who died in 1972 and is buried at Mt. Sinai Cemetery near Sidney. Children of Wright included Bobby Dale Wright; Martha Ann Wright, who married Robert Lawrence Blackmon; and Lillian Mable Wright, who married David Alan Jackson.
Lane also had a half brother, James C. Brown.
Anyone with information about Lane's family can contact Davis at 910-791-2333 or hgdavis@bellsouth.net.