Coming Home: William F. Day of KY

Clarissa Mae Rose-Matens, granddaughter of the late William F. Day, wrote the following about her grandfather on the day she was notified of her grandfathers remains being ID’d… 

“Many of you don’t know, but my maternal Grandfather WAS Korean War MIA.  On November 27, 1950, my Grandfather William F. Day went into battle in the Chosin Resevoir in North Korea. Very few made it out of that bloody battle… even the fallen. The battle lasted through December 1, 1950.  He was listed as MIA on December 2, 1950.  In Sept of 1994, the North Koreans gave to the USA 208 boxes of remains that could hold up to 400 US servicemen from the Korean war. On February 13, 2014, the remains of William F. Day were positively identified through dental records, chest x-rays and mitochondrial DNA, which was provided by my mother, Gloria Shonrock and her Uncle Herman Day, his only living brother. Workers at JPAC Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, through hard work, dedication, and the utmost respect for the people they have been charged with identifying, my Grandfather will finally, after more than 63 years, be laid to rest next to his Mother in La Center,KY. It took almost 20 years to get to the box holding my Grandfathers remains. Painstaking work, gentle care, and persistence by these amazing workers to find out who these individuals were and get them back home to their loved ones is absolutely amazing. My Mother now has Parkinson’s and I worry about her health and longevity. I am so grateful and thankful that my Mother can have this closure while she is still able to have it make a difference in her life. In a couple of months we will be traveling to KY to lay him to rest. There is a war memorial in front of the High School there, and it bears my Grandfathers name. He will be buried with full military honors, which is absolutely fitting and well deserved. The town will have a parade in his honor.  This team of people who have dedicated themselves to making families whole again have once again renewed the spirit of my Great Uncle who believed that the US Government didn’t care about his missing brother or his family. God Bless the team of people who negotiated the release of these remains and to the North Koreans who showed empathy and respect by releasing the fallen. War is hard on everyone. Time can heal. In the end, good can indeed overwrite the bad and make it right. Thank you for reading this.”