Oklahoma man killed in Korean War buried in Missouri

SENECA, Mo. (AP) - More than 65 years after he was killed during the Korean War, a soldier from Oklahoma has been buried with military honors.

Cpl. William Eldon Ervin was 21 when he died in November 1950, near the Chosin Reservoir at the beginning of a 17-day battle. More than 1,300 American soldiers were reportedly captured or killed by the attacking Chinese forces.

His family didn't hold a funeral after his death because there was no body to bury. But in 2011, a team from an Army lab excavated the bones of at least seven people from a site near the reservoir. Some of the remains were later identified as Ervin's.

A funeral was held Tuesday at Seneca Cemetery in Missouri, along the Oklahoma border a few miles from Ervin's hometown of Wyandotte, Oklahoma. A bugler played taps during the service, and his relatives received a folded American flag and plaques from the Patriot Guard Riders, the Joplin Globe newspaper reported (http://bit.ly/1VTb4fW ).

Ervin's five surviving siblings were among those in attendance, as was Raymond Vallowe, an Illinois man who served alongside Ervin. Ervin's father, stepmother, three brothers and two sisters died before a funeral could be held.

The Rev. Geoff Buffalo said the federal government has kept its promise to bring home American soldiers who were killed overseas.

"I don't know if they play cards in heaven, but I'm sure that if they do, they've got a table set up and Eldon is doing pretty good for himself," Buffalo said.

One of Ervin's brothers, John "Butch" Ervin, said there's no closure for the families of soldiers whose bodies remain missing.

"'No one left behind' isn't just a saying," Ervin said. "It's a solemn vow."

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Information from: The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com