HEART BREAKING! Meet the Woman who waited for her solider husband to return from war for 63years!
Army Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Gantt told his wife to
remarry if he didn't come back from the war. She told
him no. He had a hard enough time getting her to say
yes. He was it.
For 63 years, the World War II and Korean War
veteran was missing in action and presumed dead, but
Clara Gantt, 94, held out hope and never remarried.
On a cold, dark Friday morning on the Los Angeles
International Airport tarmac, the widow stood from
her wheelchair and cried as her husband's flag-draped
casket arrived home.
"I am very, very proud of him. He was a wonderful
husband, an understanding man," she told TV
reporters at the airport. "I always did love my
husband, we was two of one kind, we loved each
other. And that made our marriage complete."
Joseph Gantt joined the Army in 1942 and served in
the South Pacific during WWII. He met his wife on a
train from Texas to Los Angeles in 1946 and they
married two years later. They had no children.
In the Korean War, he was assigned as a field medic,
Battery C, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd
Infantry Division, when he was taken prisoner by North
Korean forces in December 1950. He died in March
1951, it was learned later, but his remains were only
recently returned to the U.S. and identified, said Bob
Kurkjian, executive director of USO Greater Los
Angeles Area.
Clara Gantt, of Inglewood, bought a home and got a
gardener so that when her husband returned, he
wouldn't have to work in the yard — he could just go
fishing and do whatever he wanted, she said.
"I bought a home for him. And I am in that home now,"
she said.
In her bedroom, the widow keeps a shrine with her
husband's awards, including the Bronze Star with
Valor, awarded posthumously for his combat
leadership actions while defending his unit's position,
and a Purple Heart, Kurkjian said.
Joseph Gantt will be buried later this month.
The pylons at LAX glowed red, white and blue in honor
of the veteran's return, and an Airport Police and
Army honor guard met the plane as it touched down
from Honolulu, where the Joint POW/MIA Accounting
Command and forensics labs are located.
"It's a holiday homecoming for the Gantt family to
finally be able to close that chapter and move
forward knowing with certainty that their husband,
uncle, great uncle is finally home," Kurkjian said.
This is third Korean War veteran whose remains have
been brought home in the last 18 months, he said.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone, powered by Easyblaze
remarry if he didn't come back from the war. She told
him no. He had a hard enough time getting her to say
yes. He was it.
For 63 years, the World War II and Korean War
veteran was missing in action and presumed dead, but
Clara Gantt, 94, held out hope and never remarried.
On a cold, dark Friday morning on the Los Angeles
International Airport tarmac, the widow stood from
her wheelchair and cried as her husband's flag-draped
casket arrived home.
"I am very, very proud of him. He was a wonderful
husband, an understanding man," she told TV
reporters at the airport. "I always did love my
husband, we was two of one kind, we loved each
other. And that made our marriage complete."
Joseph Gantt joined the Army in 1942 and served in
the South Pacific during WWII. He met his wife on a
train from Texas to Los Angeles in 1946 and they
married two years later. They had no children.
In the Korean War, he was assigned as a field medic,
Battery C, 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd
Infantry Division, when he was taken prisoner by North
Korean forces in December 1950. He died in March
1951, it was learned later, but his remains were only
recently returned to the U.S. and identified, said Bob
Kurkjian, executive director of USO Greater Los
Angeles Area.
Clara Gantt, of Inglewood, bought a home and got a
gardener so that when her husband returned, he
wouldn't have to work in the yard — he could just go
fishing and do whatever he wanted, she said.
"I bought a home for him. And I am in that home now,"
she said.
In her bedroom, the widow keeps a shrine with her
husband's awards, including the Bronze Star with
Valor, awarded posthumously for his combat
leadership actions while defending his unit's position,
and a Purple Heart, Kurkjian said.
Joseph Gantt will be buried later this month.
The pylons at LAX glowed red, white and blue in honor
of the veteran's return, and an Airport Police and
Army honor guard met the plane as it touched down
from Honolulu, where the Joint POW/MIA Accounting
Command and forensics labs are located.
"It's a holiday homecoming for the Gantt family to
finally be able to close that chapter and move
forward knowing with certainty that their husband,
uncle, great uncle is finally home," Kurkjian said.
This is third Korean War veteran whose remains have
been brought home in the last 18 months, he said.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone, powered by Easyblaze
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