INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) – The remains of U.S. Army Master Sgt. Charles H. McDaniel finally return to his family this week. The funeral with full military honors is Saturday, almost 68 years to the day McDaniel died on the battlefield in North Korea.
Governor Eric Holcomb is directing flags in Jennings and Johnson counties to be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Saturday.
Charles McDaniel, Jr. never knew his father.
"The one memory is when he was coming home, and as a little boy as you do as a child you rush out to meet your dad coming home from work,” recalled Charles Jr. Tuesday afternoon at his home on the southeast side of Indianapolis. “So, I rushed out to him and he picked me up and started bouncing me around a little bit."
Charles Sr. went off to the Korean War when Charles Jr. was just three years old.
The Army medic with the 8th Cavalry Regiment Medical Company went missing November 2, 1950 after a battle with Chinese forces near Unsan, North Korea.
McDaniel remained missing in action until this July 27, when North Korea turned over 55 boxes to the United States with the remains of American service members. Charles Jr. then received an incredible phone call from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
"He said, ‘We found one dog tag and it was your father's.’ I mean I was just speechless for a moment.”
In August, Charles Jr. and his younger brother, Larry, received their father's identification tag and military medals, including a purple heart and bronze star.
"This was on my father when he died,” said Charles Jr. holding the dog tag in his hand. “This was on my father."
Scientists used mitochondrial DNA analysis, dental records, anthropological analysis and a chest radiograph comparison analysis as well as circumstantial and material evidence, including the dog tag, to identify McDaniel's remains.
The remains arrive at Indianapolis International Airport from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Thursday afternoon. Charles Jr, a former Army medic himself who then became a chaplain, delivers the eulogy at the funeral Saturday.
"I want to do it for my father. I want to do it for my family. I want to do it for military. I want to do it for my nation."
Visitation is from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Saturday at Community Church of Greenwood, followed by the funeral services. Graveside services will also be held at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Greenwood.
7,677 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War.