Savannah, Georgia - Soldiers from the 9th Infantry Regiment faced a perilous retreat as North Korean troops closed in on them. Amidst the chaos, Luther Herschel Story, an 18-year-old Army Pfc., who was wounded, decided to stay behind to protect his comrades from being hindered by his injuries.
On September 1, 1950, Story's actions during the Korean War would leave an indelible mark. Recognizing his bravery, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military honor in the nation. Today, his portrait and the prestigious medal are proudly exhibited at the National Infantry Museum, located just an hour away from his hometown of Americus, Georgia.
However, the fate of Story remained a mystery for a long time. "In my family, we always held the belief that he would never be found," said Judy Wade, Story's niece and closest living relative.
Everything changed in April when the U.S. military disclosed the results of DNA tests that matched samples from Wade and her late mother to the remains of an unidentified American soldier recovered from Korea in October 1950. A case agent conveyed the news to Wade over the phone, confirming that after almost 73 years, Story was finally returning home.
A Memorial Day burial with full military honors was scheduled at the Andersonville National Cemetery on Monday. On Wednesday, Story's casket arrived in Georgia and was escorted through the streets of nearby Americus by a police motorcade with flashing lights.
Wade expressed relief, saying, "I no longer have to worry about him. I'm simply grateful that he's finally home." Among those celebrating Story's long-awaited return was former President Jimmy Carter. Wade revealed that when Story was a young boy, their family lived and worked on land owned by Carter's father, James Earl Carter Sr., in Plains.
Currently under hospice care at his home in Plains, Jimmy Carter, aged 98, received the news about Story from Jill Stuckey, superintendent of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park. Stuckey shared, "Oh, there was a big smile on his face. He was very excited to know that a hero was coming home."
Story grew up in Sumter County, approximately 150 miles south of Atlanta, where his father worked as a sharecropper. As a young boy, Story possessed a great sense of humor and had a fondness for baseball. He joined his parents and older siblings in the cotton fields, working hard for meager wages.
Wade recounted, "My mother used to talk about eating sweet potatoes three times a day. She described how her fingers would bleed at night from picking cotton out of the bolls. It was a collective effort for the whole family to survive."
Eventually, the family relocated to Americus, the largest city in the county, where Story's parents found better employment opportunities. Although he enrolled in high school, Story soon set his sights on joining the military after World War II.
In 1948, Story's mother agreed to sign the necessary papers for his enlistment in the Army. She stated his birthdate as July 20, 1931, but Wade later obtained her uncle's birth certificate, which revealed he was born in 1932. This would have meant he was only 16 when he joined the military.
Leaving school during his sophomore year, Story deployed to Korea with Company A of the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment in the summer of 1950, coinciding with the beginning of the war.
On September 1, 1950, in the vicinity of Agok village on the Naktong River, Story's unit faced a fierce attack from three divisions of North Korean troops. The enemy forces aimed to surround the American soldiers and cut off any chance of escape.
In response, Story displayed remarkable courage and resourcefulness. He seized a machine gun and opened fire on enemy soldiers as they crossed the river, resulting in the deaths or injuries of approximately 100 enemy combatants, as stated in his Medal of Honor citation. Despite sustaining wounds himself, when his company commander ordered a retreat, Story bravely advanced onto a road and hurled grenades at an approaching truck carrying North Korean troops and ammunition. He continued to fight valiantly, refusing to succumb to his injuries.
Recognizing that his wounds would impede his comrades, Story made the selfless decision not to withdraw to the next position but instead stayed behind to provide cover for the company's withdrawal. According to his award citation, the last account of him described him firing every available weapon and courageously fending off another hostile assault.
Sadly, Story was presumed to have lost his life during the intense combat. According to the birth certificate obtained by Wade, he would have been just 18 years old at the time.
In 1951, Story's father received his son's Medal of Honor during a ceremony at the Pentagon. Additionally, Story was posthumously promoted to the rank of corporal.
Approximately a month after Story went missing in Korea, the U.S. military discovered a body in the vicinity where he was last seen engaged in combat. These unidentified remains were interred alongside other unknown service members at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency reports that more than 7,500 Americans who served in the Korean War remain missing or have yet to be identified. This constitutes approximately 20% of the nearly 37,000 U.S. service members who lost their lives in the conflict.
In 2021, as part of a wider military initiative to ascertain the identities of several hundred Americans who died in the war, the remains of the unknown soldier recovered near Agok were exhumed. Subsequently, scientists successfully compared the DNA from the bones with samples provided by Wade and her mother before her passing in 2017, resulting in a positive match.
The breakthrough in identifying Story was announced by President Joe Biden on April 26 in Washington, D.C., in the presence of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. President Biden expressed, "Today, we can reunite him with his family and lay him to rest."