Longtime War Widow At Last Finds Some Peace

In a heart-warming story out of Los Angeles late last year, a war widow of 63 years who never remarried finally got to say goodbye to the love of her life.

On Friday, Dec. 20, 94-year-old Clara Gantt stood up from the wheelchair she must sometimes use to weep over the flag-draped coffin of her late husband, Army Sgt. 1st Class Joseph E. Gantt.

Joseph Gant was a field medic who went missing in action on Nov. 30, 1950, during the Korean War while serving with Battery C, 503rd Field Artillery, 2nd Infantry Division, according to the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office in Washington, D.C., Fox News reported.

“According to the office, elements of the 2nd Infantry Division were attacked by greater numbers of Chinese forces near the town of Kunu-ri, North Korea,” the story continued. “The division disengaged and withdrew, fighting its way through a series of Chinese roadblocks. Numerous U.S. soldiers were reported missing that day in the vicinity of Somindong, North Korea. After a 1953 exchange of prisoners of war, returning U.S. soldiers reported that Gantt had been injured in battle, captured by Chinese forces and died in a POW camp in early 1951 from malnutrition and lack of medical care. His remains were only recently identified.

“Information on when they were found was not immediately available from the missing personnel office.”

The story goes on to point out that there may be other Clara Gantts out there who might not be fortunate enough to be reunited with their remains of their missing loved ones.

“Nearly 7,900 Americans are still unaccounted for from the Korean War,” Fox News stated. “According to the Defense Department, modern technology allows identifications to continue to be made from remains turned over by North Korea or recovered from that nation by American teams.”

“Sixty-some odd years and just receiving his remains, coming home, was a blessing and I am so happy that I was living to accept him,” Clara Gantt was quoted as saying.