She never forgot
Woman gets closure for father, former MIA
By Larry Alexander
Intelligencer Journal
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - The rotted remains of a left boot. A beaded chain. Some buttons. Crumpled foil from a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes. A key manufactured in Lancaster by Slaymaker Lock Co. A moldy canvas-and-leather wallet holding a faded photograph. A single military dog tag.
These items, once carried by U.S. Army Master Sgt. Robert V. Layton, are all his daughter, Judith Saylor of Millersville, has to remember her father, personal belongings straight to her from a grave half a world away.
Missing in action in Korea since December 1950, LaytonÕs skeletal remains, and the items buried with him, were returned to his family last month.
ÒItÕs closure for us at last,Ó Saylor said Wednesday.
Living in Cincinnati at the time, Saylor was just 5 years old when her father left his wife, Helen, and two young daughters, Geraldine and herself, to fight in Korea. It would be LaytonÕs second war.
Layton won a Bronze Star for valor in World War II and was wounded twice. His European campaign ribbon bears four battle stars. When North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950, Layton, either on his own or through a callback issued by the government, found himself back in uniform.
Assigned to the 37th Regimental Combat Team of the ArmyÕs 7th Division, Layton was among the United Nations forces that pushed the North Koreans back across the 38th parallel and kept pushing them north toward the Chinese border.
By November 1950, Layton and his comrades had reached the shores of the Chosin Reservoir. There, they fell victim to a surprise assault by Chinese troops, sent to bolster North Korean forces.
Fierce fighting and subzero temperatures took a severe toll. The 7th Division was surrounded but fought its way out, suffering 15,000 casualties.
One of these was Layton, who fell sometime between Nov. 27 and Nov. 29 in fighting on the reservoirÕs east side, between Pungnyuri Inlet and Hagaru-ri to the south.
Layton was declared missing in action Dec. 2, 1950 Ñ and legally dead Dec. 31, 1953.
ÒMother always felt like he was going to come home, but I think thatÕs just a way of dealing with it,Ó Saylor said.
For the next 50 years, there was no news of the husband and father, although there were some false alarms. Decades ago, the family saw a photograph of an American GI imprisoned in North Korea. The man closely resembled Layton, but it wasnÕt him.
Then, in the 1990s, a library in Cincinnati displayed a photograph of a prisoner named Robert Layton. However, it was soon discovered the manÕs middle name was different.
ÒThey were about the same age,Ó Saylor said. ÒThey actually enlisted in the Army about the same time, so those kinds of things fed our questions.Ó
It was SaylorÕs sister GeraldineÕs persistent inquiries to the PentagonÕs POW/MIA Office that finally paid off for the family.
In 2001, U.S. investigators began a careful excavation of a mass grave of American soldiers at Chosin Reservoir. The men buried there, at least 225 of them, had been interred by their comrades before the American withdrawal from the reservoir.
LaytonÕs remains Ñ along with those of three other men Ñ were found in 2004 in a small grave near the mass grave. After being returned to Washington, LaytonÕs remains were identified earlier this year through DNA analysis and dental records, and a letter was sent to Geraldine.
Unfortunately, Geraldine died in June, so her mother Ñ LaytonÕs 84-year-old widow Ñ got the letter. She phoned Saylor.
At first it didnÕt seem real, Saylor said. But reality sank in last month when she, her husband, Bill, their two sons and her mother visited Arlington, Va.
There, they were presented with LaytonÕs personal effects, including his wallet, which still contained a faded photo of his young wife and his mother. They also were allowed to view the remains in the casket and place letters, photos and other memorabilia inside.
ÒThatÕs when I started getting choked up, because all of a sudden, itÕs real, and it made him more human,Ó said Saylor, whose last memory of her father was a trip to the Cincinnati Zoo just before he left for overseas.
Saylor said her mother was more shaken by the news than Saylor had anticipated.
ÒIt stirred up a lot more than she thought it was going to,Ó Saylor said. ÒShe got real shaky.Ó
She said her mother was wracked with self-recrimination, wondering if she could have been a better wife or if she should have written him more often.
ÒWe told her thatÕs not why heÕs dead,Ó Saylor said. ÒIt was war, and a lot of men died.Ó
Layton was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors on Nov. 28 Ñ 56 years, possibly to the day, that he died.
Finally knowing her fatherÕs fate has eased a burden for Saylor.
ÒTo know that he died in combat, that it was quick, that he was buried with some respect, that he was not tortured, and to have him buried at Arlington with respect,Ó she said, Òthat means a lot.Ó
© 2004-2006 Lancaster Newspapers
Lancaster PA