MEADVILLE — It’s why persons said they turned out Friday afternoon — either along the streets or at the Robert W. Waid Funeral Home — to honor U.S. Army Sgt. Chester L. Williams, a Korean War veteran, as his remains were brought to Meadville.
Williams, who grew up at Conneaut Lake, was 32 when he was reported missing in action in Korea on Dec. 6, 1950. Williams died of exposure in a North Korean prison camp in late December 1950.
“I just thought it was important to be here,” said Robert Catalano of Meadville, who watched the police-escorted procession go by along Chestnut Street with his wife, Dianna Catalano.
“It’s to show respect,” said Dianna Catalano.
John Camp of Meadville isn’t a military veteran, but said he just felt the need to turn out.
“I didn’t know this man, but it’s bringing home a vet,” he said of why he rode in the public processional.
Camp and Richard Rodgers were part of the more than 60-motorcycle public processional that escorted Williams’ remains along Interstate 79 to the funeral home in preparation for the weekend burial with full military honors.
“It’s out of respect,” said Richard Rodgers of Linesville, a member of Guardian Vets Motorcycle Club, a veterans motorcycle club.
Once the processional arrived at the funeral home, an honor guard of pallbearers from Veterans of the Vietnam War Post 52 bore the remains into the funeral home. Williams will be buried Sunday at 2 p.m. in Greendale Cemetery, Meadville — more than 60 years after he was declared missing in action.
Soldier’s last days
Williams came up missing when he was part of the 31st Regimental Combat Team, known as “Task Force Faith,” that was fighting in North Korea, according to Maj. Carie Parker, spokeswoman for Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office.
The unit was advancing along the eastern banks of the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea in late November 1950, when it came under attack, Parker said. Task Force Faith began a fighting withdrawal to positions near Hagaru-ri, south of the reservoir, but during the withdrawal Williams went missing, Parker said.
In 1953, returning Americans who had been held as prisoners of war reported Williams had been captured by Chinese forces and died in December 1950 as a result of exposure to the elements, Parker said.
Between 1991 and 1994, North Korea gave the U.S. 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200 to 400 U.S. service members. North Korean documents, turned over with some of the boxes, indicated that some of the human remains were recovered from the area where Williams was last seen, according to Parker.
In the identification of the remains, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools, such as radiograph, dental records and mitochondrial DNA, which matched Williams’ nephew and grand-nephew, she said.
Using modern technology, identifications continue to be made from remains that were previously turned over by North Korean officials, according to the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office. Today, more than 7,900 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War, according to the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit online at dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.
the funeral with full military honors for Sgt. Chester L. Williams took place on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Greendale Cemetery, Meadville.
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