Vets, law enforcement honor soldier killed in Korea, whose remains are back in Triangle for burial

The remains of Army Cpl. Leon E. Clevenger, a Durham native who was killed in Korea more than 70 years ago, were returned to the Triangle on Tuesday. The procession accompanies a hearse from Raleigh-Durham International Airport to Bright’s Funeral Home in Wake Forest, where it was met by an ROTC honor guard.

Clevenger was 21 when he was reported missing in action on July 11, 1950. A member of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, his unit was involved in combat against the North Korean People’s Army in the vicinity of Chonui and Choch’iwon, South Korea.

When more than two years passed with no updates, the Army classified him as deceased in December 1953.

The remains of an unidentified American were recovered near the village of Kalgo-ri, approximately 3 miles from Clevenger’s last known location, in November 1951. But military experts couldn't identified the remains, labeled as X-2258, and they were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

The Department of Defense exhumed X-2258 three years ago and sent the remains to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency laboratory for analysis. The agency identified the remains as Clevenger's in September 2019 by using circumstantial and material evidence, as well as, dental, anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis.

Clevenger will be buried at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Oak Grove Memorial Gardens, at 3712 Cheek Road in Durham, near the grave of a younger brother. Veterans and others are welcome to join the family in "the long-awaited homecoming of their loved one," according to his obituary.

More than 7,500 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War.