WWII vet who starved to death in Korean War prison camp will be buried with wife in Nebraska

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By Steve Liewer

Irene Thurstonson Chinn died in 2002 and was buried in Silver Creek, Nebraska, without knowing the fate of her husband, who was taken prisoner during the Korean War and never came home.

Tuesday, nearly 68 years after his death by starvation, Army Master Sgt. Leonard Chinn will be interred with his wife in the soil of her native state. He will receive the military honors denied him decades ago.

“We always had hope. But we didn’t know when, or if, really,” said Rodney Chinn, 71, of Columbus, who was 3 when his father was captured. “Now, my mother and father will be together again.”

Leonard Chinn grew up in New Harmony, Utah, one of 12 children. He enlisted in the Army in 1940 and fought in the Pacific, earning a Silver Star for valor in the 1944 battle of Peleliu for saving the lives of six wounded soldiers. He was discharged and married Irene on March 12, 1946. They had two sons: Randy, who is now 70, and Rodney.

FULL story: https://www.omaha.com/news/military/wwii-vet-who-starved-to-death-in-korean-war-prison/article_a47a61cf-98b3-59ff-8e3b-0ea0736b7b72.html