Master Sgt. Elwood Green
http://www.hotsr.com/news/2012/05/10/fallen-pow-honored-in-homecoming-298422.phphttp://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=43951298 Fallen POW honored in homecoming
By: Jeff Smith - The Sentinel-Record
Green
Sixty-one years after dying as a prisoner of war in Korea, Master Sgt. Elwood Green’s remains will finally be laid to rest in Mount Gilead Cemetery in Black Springs, near his hometown of Norman, on Saturday.
Green’s remains will arrive this morning at the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock.
After a ceremony attended by family members, friends and dignitaries, a military motorcade, led by members of the Patriot Guard Riders, will proceed to Mena, passing through Hot Springs, Caddo Gap, Norman, and Black Springs.
Patriot Guard Riders from three states, including members from the Hot Springs Chapter, will stage prior to the plane’s scheduled 10:03 a.m. arrival at the Supermarine gate on the west side of the airport to escort the motorcade.
The motorcade is scheduled to travel through Hot Springs on the King Expressway around 12:30 p.m., said Ron Shaw, commander of the Hot Springs Patriot Guard Riders.
It will pass through Norman some time between 2-4 p.m., where residents of the town plan to have flags flying in honor of their fallen soldier.
“A state trooper will be in the overall lead, and our group will escort the motorcade from the airport to Hot Springs as far as the turnoff to Highway 70 toward Glenwood on the bypass,” Shaw said. “From that point, the state trooper will escort them through Glenwood, Caddo Gap, Norman, Black Springs and on to Mena.”
The final destination is Beasley Wood Funeral Home in Mena, where a funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, followed by burial in Black Springs.
Assisting the Patriot Guard in the ceremony and at Saturday’s funeral will be members of local VFW, American Legion and DAR chapters, including the Akansa Chapter DAR from Hot Springs Village.
The Norman community’s website stated that townspeople “will stand at attention holding American flags while the motorcade carrying the remains of Master Sgt. Green passes through his hometown and by his old high school. Both Caddo Gap and Black Springs are expected to have small groups of people standing the flag line.”
Green was born Oct. 28, 1918, the son of Sol and Josie Green, of Norman. He married Gerda Schmoger on March 23, 1949. They had one daughter, Josie.
“I was a month old when my father was deployed to Korea. I have pictures, I have stories. That’s it,” she said during a recent interview with a Denver television station after she was notified that her father’s remains had been recovered.
In 2005, a team of Army specialists returned to North Korea to recover the remains of American soldiers left behind. On Feb. 3, 2012, Green’s family was advised that his remains were positively identified and recorded as “recovered.”
Tibbits said in the interview that a resident near the military prison camp known as Death Valley, where Green died, discovered the human remains and notified the Army specialists immediately.
“He said there were some remains and they needed to take a look,” she said.
Green was also a veteran of World War II, serving in North Africa and Italy. In Korea, he was a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. He was wounded by the enemy in South Korea on Sept. 19, 1950, but returned to duty on Sept. 22. He was taken prisoner in North Korea on Nov. 28, 1950 and later died while held as a prisoner of war on Feb. 18, 1951. His name is inscribed on the Courts of Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.
For his leadership and valor during World War II and the Korean War, Green was awarded the Bronze Star White Oak Leaf Cluster, the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Prisoner of War Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation, the Republic of Korea War Service Medal, the North Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the Army of Occupation Medal (Germany).
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