CONCORD, N.H. — The stays of a soldier from New Hampshire who went lacking in the course of the Korean Warfare and was later reported to have died in a prisoner of struggle camp had been laid to relaxation Thursday, a number of months after being recognized.
“It was stunning, actually stunning, very touching,” his niece, Carlene Hartford, mentioned following the service in Littleton.
U.S. Army Sgt. Alfred Sidney, 23, of Littleton, was reported lacking in motion in Could 1951 after his unit was attacked close to Hangye, South Korea, the Protection POW/MIA Accounting Company mentioned. Two years later, a prisoner of struggle survivor reported that Sidney had been a POW and died in July 1951 at a camp.
After the struggle, unidentified stays had been buried on the Nationwide Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, the company mentioned.
In 2020, the company disinterred among the stays and despatched them to a laboratory for evaluation.
Sidney’s stays had been recognized in August by dental and anthropological evaluation, mitochondrial DNA evaluation and circumstantial proof, the company mentioned.
Sidney was the oldest of 5 youngsters and would have turned 95 on Friday. He had three sisters and a brother.
Hartford, who by no means met him, mentioned probably the most stunning a part of the ceremony was seeing Sidney’s one remaining sibling, Patricia Lyons, 90, in attendance, standing by his casket.
“It was touching and heartwarming and emotional to see her understand this unattainable dream of him coming house,” Hartford mentioned of her aunt.
Hartford advised the Caledonian-File earlier this 12 months that the household bought a name from the company in March.
“They had been looking for Uncle Alfred and had been hoping for DNA from myself and anybody else within the household, particularly a male,” she mentioned. “I used to be in a position to get your hands on certainly one of my cousins, who was the son of Alfred’s solely brother, which was essential within the course of.”
Hartford additionally mentioned her mom, who handed away in 2013, was instrumental in holding household information and ancestry paperwork.
Sidney had been finding out for a profession in refrigeration on the time he was deployed to Korea. He was thought to be “everyone’s large brother, everybody’s hero,” earlier than the struggle, Hartford mentioned.
In 2010, Sidney was amongst 28 New Hampshire prisoners of struggle who died in captivity who was honored with posthumous Purple Hearts. Sixteen of the troopers served in World Warfare II, and 12 served within the Korean Warfare.
His household is planning to go to the cemetery in Hawaii subsequent month, the place a rosette will probably be positioned subsequent to Sidney’s title to point that he has been accounted for.
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