A long journey ended
Soldier home after 56 years in Korea
By Mannix Porterfield
The Register-Herald
BECKWITH, WV Ñ On a wind-swept knoll, carpeted by the leaves of autumn and not far from where Darrell Scarbrough once played as a youngster, the final chapter in his long odyssey was written Saturday.
Soldiers in dress greens escorted his flag-draped casket to a family cemetery along Bachman Road, a winding, narrow lane near the community of Beckwith, a few miles from Fayette CountyÕs seat of Fayetteville.
It was there, along Bachman Road, more than half a century ago, a 17-year-old boy just out of high school doctored his papers to appear older so he could become a soldier.
His parents, initially upset by such deception, relented, and Scarbrough was off to the military with their reluctant blessings.
Within two years, he paid the ultimate sacrifice a soldier knows always lurks in his future Ñ laying down his life in the storm of combat.
At his funeral, Army Chaplain Bruce Reed of the West Virginia Army National Guard in Charleston likened his sacrifice to the words of Jesus Christ in John 15:13:
ÒGreater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.Ó
Or, in this instance, for his country, the lieutenant colonel emphasized, using the word ÒheroÓ more than once in a packed chapel at Dodd-Payne-Hess Funeral Home in nearby Fayetteville.
Scarbrough was a corporal with the 8th Cavalry Regiment of the famed 1st Infantry Division around Nov. 1, 1950, when some 180,000 Chinese Communist troops overran the Americans in the province of Unsan, after crossing the historic 38th parallel.
All told, the Army says 381 men were missing in action in that engagement. Posthumously, the fallen soldier was promoted to the rank of sergeant.
No one knew of ScarbroughÕs demise until a farmer in North Korea, digging in the soil seven years ago to repair an irrigation line, unearthed some G.I. dog tags. More excavation yielded other military items Ñ helmet liners, pocket knives, sugar from a K-ration box, Zippo cigarette lighters, and the like.
Nothing issued by the military had ScarbroughÕs name on it, but a brotherÕs donated blood sample was collected by the ArmyÕs Central Identification Laboratory of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, and the DNA matched bone fragments.
ScarbroughÕs surviving six brothers and two sisters never abandoned hope that he would turn up alive.
At the very least, the family wanted to learn his fate for a sense of closure.
ÒIt was just a wonderful day,Ó brother John Scarbrough of Beckley reflected, after an honor guard performed the ceremonial folding of the American flag in the family cemetery, preceded by the playing of ÒTapsÓ by a bugler and the traditional 21-gun salute.
ÒWe have finally put him to rest. He is finally home. It was a wonderful service.Ó
Like John, his other brothers were much younger than Darrell and their memories of him were blurred by time.
Scarbrough had a brush with death a few months earlier when an enemy artillery shell sent shrapnel into his left shoulder, earning the Purple Heart.
At the funeral home, a hutch adjacent the flag-draped casket contained aged photographs of a handsome, young man in uniform, smiling inside oval-shaped frames, along with pictures of his parents, Wesley and Margaret, who died five years apart in the 1980s, unaware of their sonÕs fate in the Korean War.
Chaplain Reed applauded his survivors as a family Òunited in their voice of dignity for his memory.Ó
ÒThe Forgotten War has taken new life in our inner desire to know more about Sgt. Scarbrough, to regain a better picture and a clearer memory of an older brother, even if those memories include a soldierÕs full sacrifice,Ó he said.
ÒThat, too, has added to the honor this family holds for their brother.Ó
Faint hopes that he might have created a new life after the Korean War were dashed by the hard evidence painstakingly scrutinized by the militaryÕs special unit after the farmerÕs discovery.
Not only was the service meant to honor a soldierÕs bravery and to support a family in its revival of grief, the chaplain said, but it stands as a reminder that America remains a nation ready to support neighbors and allies.
And, he said, Òthat members of our armed forces, no matter what age or service, are true heroes, highlighted in mud and canvas, not bright lights and headlines, measured by tortured and bloody footsteps, not minutes and clicks of a clock, delving actions planned in foxholes and country clubs, suffering the loss of friends and battle buddies, not just losses on a piece of paper.Ó
Without the sacrifices paid by young men like Scarbrough, he said, America might not have retained its freedoms.
As a pianist played ÒPrecious Memories,Ó members of the Korean War Veterans of West Virginia filed into the chapel, dressed alike in light blue blazers and gray trousers, and halted at ScarbroughÕs casket to issue a snappy salute.
ÒWe all wanted to come up,Ó explained Franklin Goff of St. Albans, the groupÕs president who was in Korea with the ArmyÕs 24th Infantry when Scarbrough was killed.
ÒI think itÕs marvelous that theyÕve gone to these extremes, when they find remains to bring them home. It does something for us veterans. Had we been the victim, we wouldnÕt have been forgotten. Fifty-six years later, theyÕre still trying to find them. Even though they said it was a forgotten war, there were still 56,000 soldiers who died over there.Ó
Monty Price of Fayetteville played a guitar and sang two gospel songs, including the popular ÒAmazing Grace.Ó
Reed said ScarbroughÕs death, at age 20 years and two months, reminds all that America is Òstill a nation Ñ a people Ñ a person of moral stamina and ethical worth (and) that the history of our nation is built on hundreds of thousands of stories just like Sgt. Scarbrough.Ó
After the service, funeral home director Brad Anderson released a white dove, saying it symbolized ScarbroughÕs spirit escaping at the moment of death.
ÒIt was a beautiful service,Ó observed a sister, Karen Slaughter.
ÒEverything just went so well. WeÕre just glad we can finally have closure. I feel like a big burden has been lifted off my shoulders.Ó
© 2006 The Register-Herald
Beckley, WV