Lockett, Linsey Clayton, Cpl

Cold War Certificate

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CPL LINDSEY CLAYTON LOCKETT 

The homecoming brings closure to a family torn apart by war, allowing a widow who last saw her husband when she was a pregnant 18-year-old, and a son who never met his father, to finally say goodbye.

She wants closure for him, Lockett's grandson, Leonardo Lockett, said this week, referring to his grandmother Anna. She's happy that they found him and that he's coming home, but she said there won't be rest for him until he's in the ground.
 
A memorial service is set for 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 11, at New Deliverance Evangelistic Church on Turner Road in Chesterfield County.
 
According to the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Lockett was part of a medical detachment with the 503rd Artillery Battalion 2nd Infantry Division when he and the others were taken prisoner on Dec. 1, 1950.
 
They were occupying a position in the vicinity of Somin-dong, North Korea, when their unit was overwhelmed by Chinese forces.

Leonardo Lockett, 44, said the family knew that Lindsey had been taken prisoner in the early days of the war.
 
It wasn't until after the war, when the prisoners were released, that they learned he  died in the camp.
 
Once (the prisoners) got released, (the family) talked to soldiers that were in the camp with him and they confirmed he was in the camp and had died at a certain time in 1951, he said.

For the next 60 years the family continued to believe Lockett's remains were buried somewhere in North Korea.
 
In 1954, the United Nations and communist forces exchanged the remains of war dead in what came to be called Operation Glory.
 
At the time, all the remains recovered in the operation were turned over to the Central Identification Unit in Kokura, Japan, for analysis.

Any remains they weren't able to identify, including Lockett's, were buried as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, known as the Punchbowl.
 
Last year, the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii was able to re-examine the records and found that it was now technologically possible to identify remains.

Scientists from the accounting agency and the Armed Forces DNA Laboratory used circumstantial evidence and technology to match the remains with Lockett's records.

One of the techniques used to identify the exhumed remains, including Lockett's, is taking an X-ray of the collarbone, which, like a fingerprint, is unique to each individual.
 
There are many different lines of evidence that collate into a clear identification. The one of the collarbone is a significant one, said Air Force Lt. Col. Melinda F. Morgan.
 
There had been attempts in the past to identify the bodies, but those had failed. Morgan said that the Defense Department once tried to test DNA, but the bodies were preserved using chemicals including formaldehyde, making it impossible.
 
We have yet to find a way to extract DNA from remains preserved in that matter, she said. We're working on it, but we're not there yet.

The family was given the news in December, shortly before Christmas. Leonardo, who lives in Richmond, said he was at home when his father called to pass along the news. But Anna, 82, was still in disbelief when representatives from the Army visited her home in Richmond in February.

She remained skeptical until shown a book created for her, showing the remains, cataloging Lockett's accomplishments and explaining how scientists were able to identify the remains.

She was looking at it in awe. She's still in awe, Leonardo said. I'm in awe. I never met my grandfather, and I still can't believe this is real.
 
For him, one of the hardest things about his grandfather's death was knowing his own father grew up without a father.
 
Lindsey Lockett Jr. was born in Richmond 10 days before his father was taken prisoner. While Lindsey Sr. knew before he shipped out that his wife was pregnant, it's likely he never knew his son was born.

That was always hard for me. Knowing my dad never really had a dad, knowing he had died and was over there in a grave, Leonardo said. While Anna eventually remarried and Lindsey Jr. would have a stepfather, the early years were difficult for mother and son.
 
It was hard for Anna, a South Carolina native, to be living in Virginia trying to take care of her son alone, Leonardo said. She's got a husband who's over in the Korean War and she finds out he's MIA, to find out he's dead.

It was rough, Leonardo said. He said he grew up hearing stories about Lindsey and Anna, and how he was going to barber school when she came in to get her hair done. He asked her out. They got married. Then, he was shipped off to war.
 
To know he was there, that he was a medic, that gives me a lot of pride to know what he was doing, Leonardo said. I just hope I can have the same kind of character he had. He paid the ultimate sacrifice. Lindsey Jr. and Leonardo followed Lockett into the military.

Leonardo is an Army sergeant. The war began on June 25, 1950, when the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly called North Korea, invaded South Korea.

The United Nations Security Council condemned the invasion, and President Harry S. Truman ordered the country's armed forces to help South Korea. By February 1952, Truman's approval rating had dropped to 22 percent, forcing him to decide against running for a second full term.

According to the Department of Defense, the U.S. suffered 33,686 battle deaths and 2,830 non-battle deaths in Korea. Yet war was never officially declared.
 
Lockett died less than a year after the conflict started. According to the Defense Department, 7,852 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War.