The remains of 18-year-old Medal of Honor recipient Luther Story were buried in his hometown of Americus, Georgia, more than 70 years after the Army PFC was last seen fighting off an attack of North Koreans to allow his fellow soldiers to retreat to safety, NBC News reports.
Story was last seen fighting with any weapons he had at hand, taking out an estimated 100 enemy as they attempted to cross a river. Story told his comrades that he was too badly wounded to retreat, and that he would cover their withdrawal. Weeks later, American forces retook the area where the battle took place and recovered remains, but many were never identified. Story’s remains were identified in April, having been matched to DNA samples from his niece and her mother, Story’s sister.
Story’s family had once been sharecroppers on land owned by the father of Jimmy Carter, who worked to try to get the remains of the thousands of American service members, including his fellow Georgian, back from North Korea. In hospice for the last two months, the former president reportedly had a “big smile on is face.”