After 75 years, Korean War Hero, MSgt Luther Grace returns home to Georgia
JEFF DAVIS COUNTY, Ga. (WALB) – After more than seven decades, U.S. Army Master Sergeant Luther Grace, a native of Lumber City, Georgia, has been formally accounted for and will finally return home for burial.
“Oh, it’s indescribable. I just wish my dad was here. My dad always thought that he was a prisoner of war and that he was going to come home. Now, he’s coming home, just not in the way my dad expected,” said Kelly Grace, MSgt Grace’s nephew.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that MSgt Grace was identified on Dec. 18, 2024, after being missing in action since Nov. 30, 1950, during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War. He was just 34 years old.
Assigned to the Heavy Mortar Company, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, Grace was reported missing near the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea. His remains, initially unidentified and designated as Unknown X-15760, were recovered through Operation GLORY in 1954 and buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) in Honolulu, Hawaii.
“Everybody that serves gives some but there’s a few that gave it all and Mr. Grace was one of them. Sergeant Grace gave it all and I’m glad that the man who gave it all is now able to come back home and rest in peace,” said Gerald Lewis, President of Jeff Davis County Veterans Association.
His remains were disinterred in 2021 as part of a broader DPAA effort to identify Korean War unknowns. Using dental, anthropological, and mitochondrial DNA analysis, scientists confirmed his identity.
His nephew, Kelly Grace, continued, “there were 652 soldiers remains sent to the Punchbowl in Hawaii. And I don’t know how many got involved, and I’m glad we got some closure, but what about the other families?”
Master Sergeant Grace didn’t have any children, and he was never married. His parents and siblings have all passed away. Grace is survived by his nephew and five nieces who say they never got the chance to know him.
“My daddy has to have the biggest sense of relief. He always wondered, and he always wanted closure,” said Saralyn Stapleton, one of Grace’s nieces.
MSgt Grace will be returned to Georgia on April 30, with public honors including a procession to Hazlehurst and a full military funeral at Jeff Davis High School Stadium on May 3 at 11 a.m. He will be laid to rest in Fishing Creek Sapfield Cemetery in Lumber City, next to his parents.
His name is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing in Honolulu, where a rosette will now mark his return.
The Grace family encourages the public to attend the funeral service to honor a local hero whose courage and sacrifice will never be forgotten.
To learn more about the funeral arrangements, click here.
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