Lt. Hoyle Upchurch will be buried in High Falls.
Dennis Rogers, Staff Writer
Lt. Hoyle Upchurch had a premonition how World War II would end for him: "It won't be bad because no one is depending on me," the 21-year-old North Carolinian wrote home to his family in 1944. "I will be just a thing of the past in a year or so if I am bumped off."
His prediction came true. After training as a pilot, Upchurch was assigned to the famed Flying Tigers squadron in China. On Oct. 8, 1944, he strapped himself into the cockpit of a P-40 for his first mission. He did not return and was listed as missing in action.
Upchurch may have been right about his fate, but he was wrong about the future. Back home in High Falls, a mill town on the Deep River in Moore County, his parents and 10 brothers and sisters waited for him to come home.
"Uncle Hoyle was a mythical hero to the majority of our family," nephew Dale Upchurch said. "Our grandparents expected him to walk through the door any day. There was always that hope."
The wait is over. Hoyle Upchurch is coming home. At 2 p.m. Saturday, he will be buried with full military honors in the High Falls Methodist Church cemetery in his hometown.
His is a simple story, really. He was one of 78,000 Americans who marched off to World War II, went missing and didn't come home. Their families were left with broken hearts, nagging questions and faded telegrams that began, "The War Department regrets to inform you ... ."
But missing doesn't mean forgotten.
In 1944, the people of Guidong, China, watched as Japanese and American pilots dueled in the sky above them. Then they saw an American plane crash high on a mountain.
The grateful people of Guidong climbed the mountain and brought down the young pilot's broken body. They wrapped him in red silk, toasted him with rice wine and laid him to rest in their most sacred place, a grave next to a Ming Dynasty temple.
For 60 years, the people of Guidong cared for their American. They even put a Christian cross at his grave. He may have been stranger from far away, but he was some mother's son, so they loved him as one of their own. It was all they could do.
"We are so proud to know our uncle was treated with such respect," Dale Upchurch said. "It is really unbelievable what they did for him."
Last year, as part of a continuing effort to return as many fallen Americans as possible to their families, Upchurch's remains were recovered. DNA samples proved he was the good-looking kid from High Falls who grew up wanting to be a pilot.
On Saturday, Upchurch will be buried again, this time between his mother and father, as family members, Chinese officials, state and federal dignitaries and military officers gather to honor him. His tombstone will read: "Home at last."
And in China, his empty grave will remain a monument to good people who did the right thing for a soldier who died far from home.
Dennis Rogers can be reached at 829-4750 or drogers@newsobserver.com.
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