Pvt. Robert Arle Wright went Missing in Action during the Korean War in 1950 at the age of 17. Seventy-two years later, his remains have been found and will be brought home to Whitesville. Wright’s niece Jessie Hettinger said the family was notified Friday, and that they’re awaiting more details about where and how the remains were found.
Wright attended St. Mary’s High School in Whitesville before entering the service at 17 years old in 1949. He set sail for the war in April 1950.
Private First Class Wright was a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy in South Korea on July 16, 1950. He was presumed dead on Dec. 31, 1953.
According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s website:
On the evening of July 15, 1950, the U.S. Army’s 19th Infantry Regiment held defensive positions along the south bank of the Kum River. As dusk approached, North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) tanks appeared on the opposite shore and began firing on the U.S. positions. Although U.S. troops repulsed the attacks that evening, the next morning the NKPA crossed the river and launched a major attack against the 19th Regiment. As the regiment began withdrawing south to Taejon, the North Koreans pushed deep into their defensive lines and set up a roadblock en route to Taejon. When retreating American convoys could not break through the roadblock, soldiers were forced to leave the road and attempt to make their way in small groups across the countryside. Of the 900 soldiers in the 19th Infantry when the Battle of Kum River started, only 434 made it to friendly lines.
The agency’s website shows that Wright’s status changed to “accounted for” on Aug. 15, 2022.
Hettinger said her grandmother had a memorial headstone made for Wright “to make sure if they ever found him they’d have a place to bring him back.” The headstone is St. Mary’s of the Woods Cemetery in Whitesville, and it lists Wright’s birth date and the date he went MIA.
Wright’s cousin was the first one actually informed that the remains were found, because as the oldest family member she is listed as the contact person.
“All they told her was they found his skeletal remains,” Hettinger said. “They wanted to let the family know and asked what arrangements we wanted to make. We already told them that my grandmother wanted him to be brought back to Whitesville. That’s what we’re going to do.”
Hettinger said it may take a few weeks before they found out more details such as exactly what happened and where the remains were found. For now, the family is just happy to finally have closure.
“We’ve all been in a state of shock, every dang one of us,” she said. “All of us have been waiting so long. We’ve been waiting 72 years for him to come home. My grandmother and all of his brothers and sisters went to their grave not knowing what happened to him or where he was at. None of us knew anything. We just knew that he was missing in action.”
