Welcome Home Soldier!
There are many of the so-called “Unknowns”….those soldiers that died in combat and we not identified at the time. Slowly but slowly DNA is providing much needed identifications.
Recently another soldier has been identified….
In what his family believes was his last letter home to Zanesville, Sgt. Harold Davis wrote that his only dream was to see the United States again.
The letter, addressed to his mother and father, came from Australia. He was stationed there for a time as he fought in the Pacific theater in World War II.
On Feb. 1, 1944, Davis and 10 of his comrades were killed in a plane crash on Mount Kenevi in New Guinea. The remains of the crash weren’t discovered for another 19 years. Officially, Davis was listed as missing in action, and then, a year later, killed in action.
In 1963, the crash was found but individual identification of the men wasn’t possible. So they were given a group burial at Arlington National Cemetery, and Davis’s family believed that chapter was closed.
Everyone is invited to Davis’s funeral procession. The procession is scheduled to leave at 10 a.m. from Delong-Baker & Lanning Funeral Home located at 56 S. Fifth St. and will travel to Zanesville Memorial Park at 1475 Military Road.
Waite hopes people line the streets, waving flags. Davis has been away from Zanesville for more than 70 years. To his remaining family, and to the city, this is a celebration.
“It’s quite an honor to close this chapter,” said Carolyn Waite, Dick’s wife.
He was awarded the Army Good Conduct Medal (posthumous); Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one Silver Service Star and one Bronze Service Star; World War II Victory Medal; Presidential Unit Citation with one Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster; Philippine Defense Ribbon; and Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation, according to military records.
His family can now have the closure that they were missing……and may his soul rest in peace.
Now I shut down the operation for the day….see you guys tomorrow with a bag full of more stuff….chuq