Korean War soldier laid to rest
/ Tom Eschen
SENECA FALLS -- 62 years of the unknown for Cpl. Elmer Kidd's family finally came to a close Friday afternoon, as the remains of the Korean War soldier killed in action was buried.
Cpl. Kidd, a Seneca Falls native, died in November of 1950, fighting in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War. His remains were included in the 208 boxes North Korea turned over to the United States in December of 1993. A couple of years ago, the military positively identified Cpl. Kidd's remains through DNA cotton swab tests. It was an "overwhelming" moment for his family.
"I was in awe," Cpl. Kidd's nephew Larry Stuck says. "I couldn't believe this even happened, and that all of this came as it did."
Alberta Stuck, Cpl. Kidd's sister, was given the flag draped on Kidd's casket at Friday's funeral and burial. With dozens of Korean War veterans looking on, it gave her and the family a sense of closure they were looking for the past 60 years.
"To receive the flag from our country, for which he died for, is very impressive, my mom will cherish that the rest of her life," Larry Stuck says. "It was closure for my mom, like I say, all of these years of not knowing what had happened to her brother...he's finally home in Seneca County."
