Homer Ray ABNEY

     Homer Ray ABNEY, son of Homer Garton ABNEY and Lela Mae Gault, was born on 22 August 1926 in Dallas, Texas.

During the Korean War, Homer Ray ABNEY enlisted in Company A, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division in 1951. He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy in North Korea on November 30, 1950 and died while in captivity on January 22, 1951. His remains were not recovered. Sergeant Abney was awarded the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Prisoner of War Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.

Homer Ray ABNEY died on 31 March 1951 in North Korea at age 24. He was buried in Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.

Homer Ray ABNEY appeared in a television news story 7 April 2017 on WFAA-TV News, aired in Dallas, Texas. Sergeant buried in North Texas more than 66 years after disappearance: DALLAS - Homer Ray Abney, the son of a city of Dallas truck driver, was taken prisoner and killed by enemy forces during the Korean War, a fact the US Army now has confirmed with physical evidence.

"He smiled a lot so he made me smile," said Nenva Vines, Abney's niece. "You know, you look up to your uncles."

Vines described the night the Army came knocking on the door.

"I do have memories of that night because everybody was crying, a frightening event for a child," Nenva said. "It seemed like it was the middle of the night for me."

The government didn't have his body. They presumed at the age of 24, Abney had been taken prisoner and killed by enemy forces.

"It's been a long, long mystery," Vines said.

That mystery ended Friday at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.

"It was 66 years and five days from when he was declared dead until he returned to Texas soil," said Sarah Vines, Abney's great-great niece.

Back in 2005, human remains were recovered from a burial site in North Korea. It would take a decade, but ultimately those remains were connected to Homer. The family received the call about the discovery last Christmas.

"I can't tell you at how impressed I am that their search continued and how they have brought him home," Nenva said. "It's been so long but they still take care of their own."

It took more than half a century but now Army Sgt. Homer R. Abney is finally home.