Everyone who has spent time around military personnel can tell you that the phrase “leave no man behind” is something the men and women of our armed forces take very seriously. A moving story out of Pulaski County last week demonstrates how seriously our military is about bringing serviceman or woman home.
Freeman “Corky” Lindsey was an American soldier defending our South Korean allies from the Communist incursion in 1950 when he was captured by the North Koreans. In a cruel twist of fate, his capture was caught on film and that film made its way on to a newsreel–which just so happened to be seen by Corky Lindsey’s younger brother. That grainy image was the last the Lindsey family would see or hear of their beloved Corky. Unbeknownst to them, Corky Lindsey died of malnutrition while in North Korean custody in 1951.
After his and other vets’ remains were returned—unidentified—to the U.S. in the early 1990s, the U.S. Department of Defense has been hard at work attempting to identify the remains of heroes lost in the struggle against Communist aggression. Corky Lindsey was identified recently with help from the nonprofit Korean War Project (which operates solely on the support of donors and other sponsors). His family recently received the good news last month that after sixty years of separation, their beloved brother and uncle would finally be coming home. On Saturday, Lindsey returned and was finally laid to rest peacefully with his fathers in Pulaski.
May God bless the men and women of our armed forces who are willing to bear unspeakable hardship in defense or our liberties, the families who anxiously await their return and the tireless scientists and volunteers who are working to bring closure to families of the missing.
