N o r t h    T e x a s   P G R
F I N A L    I T I N E R A R Y

Patriot's Name:

    
SGT Bobby Ray King

Military Branch:

United States Army

Classification:

Killed In Action

Additional Military Info:

Bobby Ray King went to war more than 60 years ago and never came home.

His parents and immediate relatives died without knowing what happened to the 19-year-old with the gap-toothed grin, and King became a footnote in family history.

But the military didn’t forget.

“You don’t leave a fallen American behind,” according to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command’s website. “The families deserve an answer.”

King’s surviving family members got theirs a few weeks ago when they were notified that the Korean War veteran had been buried in an anonymous grave in Hawaii for decades.

Now, his niece, a great-niece and a handful of distant relatives await his return home, where he will be reburied at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery with full military honors.

“What the Army has done is just amazing,” said Danna Yeates, King’s great-niece.

She never met King, and her mother was only 2 when he was killed in 1950, but Yeates said tears welled up in family members’ eyes when they were presented with King’s Purple Heart medal.

“You wouldn’t think you would feel emotion for someone that you have never met,” she said. “But you do. You feel closeness and especially when they start giving you these honors.”

Sgt. Dylan Shaw, the Army casualty officer assigned to King’s family in Burleson, said the dogged pursuit to identify King’s remains after so many decades “made me feel proud.”

“To think of him being unknown after all this time, then coming home … I guess it makes you feel a little patriotic,” Shaw said.

King left Seymour, Texas, to join the Army at 17, Yeates said. “He weighed 114 pounds, and he was like 5 feet, 5 inches.”

He ended up in Korea, where he fought in an infamous battle called the Bloody Gulch Massacre, Sgt. Shaw said.

“It was actually known as a war crime at the time it happened,” Shaw said. The 90th Field Artillery Battalion was surrounded, and “they just opened fire on them.”

After the battle, the North Koreans “rounded up 75 prisoners, and they just lined them up and shot them,” Shaw said. King’s body was found in a foxhole in South Korea’s Pongam-ni. The remains could not be identified at the time, so he was buried with full military honors as an unknown soldier, “X-216,” at Honolulu’s National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl.

Several years after King was listed as “missing in action,” his designation was changed to “killed in action,” Shaw said. But the location of his body remained unknown.

According to the POW/MIA command, more than 7,900 service personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. The Punchbowl includes more than 2,900 unknown burials, from both the Korean War and World War II.

Last spring, improved technology, using the chest X-rays taken when King entered the service, led the command to disinter several caskets containing unidentified remains.

This time, the X-ray and dental records, including King’s missing front tooth, enabled authorities to identify his body.

Part of the information packet returned to King’s family included letters from his mother to the Army, written after he was declared missing.

“The mother sent a picture,” Shaw said. “He had his front tooth knocked out as a child … so she sent a picture of him, smiling in his uniform, to the Department of the Army.”

Yeates said reading the poignant letters from her great-grandparents pleading for information about their lost boy was like a voice from the past.

“That just tugs at your heartstrings,” said Yeates, whose son just finished a stint with the Marines. “The thought of your son not coming home — I can’t imagine what they went through.”

When King is buried at the D-FW cemetery on Dec. 7, his military family and his relatives will be there at his side.

“This is an honor to us that they would treat him with so much respect,” Yeates said. “It’s owed to Uncle Bobby.”

Mission Ride Captain:

Larry Key, larrykey@ntxpgr.org, (940) 268-8242

Ride Captain #2:

Rusty McNab, rustymcnab@sbcglobal.net, (817) 228-7845

Mission Summary:

We have been invited to provide processional and graveside honors for this 60 year old KIA.

For Sgt Kings arrival on Wednesday morning, the Funeral home and CAO ask that we use only 8 bikes to be a part of the procession from the airport to the funeral home.

PART 1:

Laurel Land Funeral home to DFW Cemetery

Mission Date:

Dec 07, 2012

Staging Time:

09:30

Briefing Time:

09:45

In Position Time Or KSU:

10:00

Details Of Part 1:

We will stage at Laurel Land funeral home on Crowley Road in Fort Worth. Following the riders briefing, we will be escorted by the Fort Worth Police motorcycle division to DFW National Cemetery for the grave side service to honor this true American hero. He has been classified as an MIA for all these years and now is coming home as an identified KIA. Lets do everything we can to honor Sgt King as we help to bring him home.

Upon arrival at DFW we will proceed to the shelter (the shelter is unknown at this time).

If you are unable to stage at Laurel Land, then please go to DFW for a 10:15 staging at the information center. There will be a ride captain there to direct you to the correct shelter.

The Bell will be there to honor this hero.

Water Truck will not be at staging, but will be at DFW.

Name Of Staging Point:

Laurel Land Funeral Home

Staging Address For Part 1:

7100 Crowley Road
Fort Worth, Texas 76134

Map To Staging Area For Part 1:

http://goo.gl/maps/2X3Ux

Map To DFW National Cemetery Staging Area

- Map To Staging Area At DFW National Cemetery.

Water Truck For Part 1:

- The Flag/Water Truck WILL Be There.

Weather Forecast:
(See WEB Calendar For The Latest Forecasts)

Friday
Partly cloudy. Fog early. High of 79F. Breezy. Winds from the SSW at 15 to 20 mph.

Check The Online Itinerary For Current Weather, Radar, And Mission Updates Before Heading Out. http://www.txpgr.org

Comments:

- Iron horses if you can, cages are always welcome and appreciated.

- Safety First: Please remember to properly hydrate (including the night before) before any outdoor activity and to dress appropriately. Do not hesitate to take a break at any time if you feel you need to get in the shade or get indoors and always ask for help at any time. Also please do not forget your sun screen.

- Please remember that our mission is to stand tall and silent, and with honor and respect for this patriot and their family. NO TALKING, SMOKING, OR CELL PHONE USE IN THE FLAG LINE!

- We will park along the main street close to the designated shelter with 2 bikes side by side as close to the curb and each other as possible so that traffic can get by.

- Let's always remember to keep the motorcycle and voice noise to a minimum when arriving and leaving the shelters.

- Cemeteries are hallowed ground. Please keep radios off and engine noise to a minimum. Observe the 15 MPH speed limit. Show our respect to ALL who are there, not just the one we are honoring.

Respectfully Submitted By:

Larry "Rev DT" Key

Assistant Deputy State Captain

Submitted By:

larrykey@ntxpgr.org

This weather information below is for the staging point of the mission.  More information is available if you click on the forecast section.  It is current as of the time you click the mission link on the calendar.

Radar Image Not Available At This Time.
Clicking on radar image will open a new window with a larger display.  It will be customized later (this is a demo) 
Ft Worth, Texas, Current Weather Conditions and Forecast
If You Arrived At This Page Without Going Through Our Home Page, Please Visit Us At http://www.txpgr.org