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NEWTON James Fishe remembers Willie Hill as "an easy-going guy. He was quiet, not loud or anything like that. He was a nice young man."
Now, Fishe is happy that his first cousin, Sgt. Willie Dennis Hill, will finally get the burial he deserves. Hill was killed in action in the Korean War, but his body was never recovered until North Korea allowed Americans into that country to search for missing soldiers.
"We are very happy that we were able to bring him home," Fishe said. "We used to play together. I was in the 12th grade when he joined the Army and went away." Hill had already graduated from Catawba Rosenwald High School.
After fierce fighting with the Chinese army in 1950, Hill was listed as missing in action. Soon, the Army notified his family that Hill was presumed dead. The family didn't think they would ever know where their hero fell in North Korea.
Friday, Hill's remains were flown to Charlotte, where a procession led by Patriot Guard Riders transported them to Newton. He was to have been buried Saturday in Concord Cemetery in Catawba.
The family will gain some peace Hill is no longer in an unmarked grave halfway around the world in a country Americans still consider anenemy.
