Proper burial for LC native is today

Ceremony for former POW open to public at Highland Cemetery

Edward Milton Jones

Died during Korean War

Special to the American Press

It has been 67 years since Edward Milton Jones died as a prisoner of war during the Korean War, and his body is finally going to be laid to rest with full military honors.

Jones, a native of Lake Charles, died at 20 years old. He will be buried at noon today at Highland Cemetery in Lake Charles. Some of Jones’ family members are expected to attend, and the ceremony is open to the public.

According to his family, Jones proudly enlisted in the U.S. Army so he could serve the country he loved.

Cpl. Jones was a member of Company D, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division.

He was seriously wounded and taken prisoner of war in South Korea Feb. 12, 1951, and died there as a POW March 16, 1951.

Family members of Jones, who was born July 6, 1930, in Lake Charles, said he was a “loving son and brother who will never be forgotten.”

Carole Diehl, who works part-time for Hixson Funeral Home, said she took a vacation day from her other job and requested to be the person to drive to Houston on behalf of Hixson to bring back the remains of Jones.

“It was an honor for me to bring Cpl. Jones back to his loved ones,” Diehl said. “He fought for our freedom. The very least that I could do is make sure that he was brought back in an honorable way.”

Diehl said when she drove back into Lake Charles with his remains she made sure, as another gesture of honoring him, to drive past the Veteran’s Memorial Park at the lakefront.

“He gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom,” Diehl said. “I have the utmost respect for what he and others did to protect our freedom.”

She said her husband is a Marine and Vietnam veteran and she has other family members who have served in various branches of the military.

“I have a special place in my heart for our veterans,” Diehl said. “That’s one reason that this was so special to me personally. It’s hard for me to even talk about it right now because I’m still so emotional about being able to do this for him and to be able to return his remains so that his family could have a proper burial.”

In August, the U.S. military began flying home remains of service members after the first such handover by North Korea in more than a decade.

North Korea transferred remains after agreements were reached between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a meeting in Singapore last summer. Positive identification of all of the remains could take years.

Jones’ name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Cemetery in Honolulu, HI, along with others who were missing after the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Parents of Jones were the late Daniel DeWolf Jones and Inez Ellender Jones of Lake Charles.

Memories or expressions of sympathy for the family may be shared at www.JEHixson.com.

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