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Bringing Buckley home
AUSTINTOWN
Cpl. Dennis Buckley of Detroit is coming home from North Korea to finally be laid to rest after missing for 63 years.
A niece who barely knew him brought a stack of paperwork to an Austintown fineral home to make the final arrangements.
Mark Lattimer, Lane Family Funeral Home funeral director, said bringing Buckley home started six weeks ago when Eleanor Stevenson, Buckley’s niece, received notice from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency that her uncle’s remains had been found.
According to a DPAA news release, Buckley went missing near Hoengsong about Feb. 13, 1951, when he was only 23. When the Army Graves Registration Service performed organized searches in 1953, Buckley was declared missing because his remains were not found.
Between 1990 and 1994, North Korea returned 208 boxes of at least 600 commingled human remains to the U.S.
DPAA scientists joined forces with the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory to identify the remains and notified Stevenson when they confirmed her uncle was finally home.
Stevenson said when the Army officials asked her whether she wanted to take responsibility for the remains, the answer was easy.
“I told them, ‘Bring him home,’” Stevenson said.
Today, 7,819 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. Using advances in technology, identifications continue to be made from remains that previously were turned over by North Korean officials or recovered by American teams, the DPAA said.
There are three days dedicated to honoring Buckley.
Today, Buckley’s remains will be given to Lane Family Funeral Home, 5797 Mahoning Ave., in a ceremony with the Pennsylvania National Guard about noon at the Pittsburgh International Airport.
Wednesday, Lane will welcome people from 4 to 7 p.m.
Thursday, Lane will host a prayer service at 10 a.m. and a 1 p.m. final service at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery in Rittman.
Lattimer said the federal government is incurring most of the expenses and Lane is picking up the difference. He said the difference is insignificant – less than $1,000 – in comparison to the honor he feels in being able to give back to the fallen soldier.
“We all owe him so much and I want to do him right – the best we can,” Lattimer said.
He said in all of the planning in the previous few weeks he was unable to find any pictures of the deceased until he contacted Buckley’s high school – Strong Vincent High School, Erie, Pa. – which had an archived photo of Buckley from ninth grade.