Saturday, March 25, 2000
Missing Marine home at long last
Return of remains bolsters family
BY ALLEN HOWARD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Marguerite Smith Headen watched with teary eyes as the remains of her husband, Marine Pfc. John Morris Smith, were removed Friday from a plane at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
Her daughter, Norma Mackey, and granddaughters, Pia Spaulding and Nichole Headen, stood by her side.
“I felt a piece of my life that had been missing 55 years coming back,” the Lincoln Heights woman said.
Pfc. Smithdisappeared July 14, 1945 as Americans fought Japanese on Okinawa during World War II. The remains of Pfc. Smith and two other Marines were found in a cave near the city of Nago in 1998. Military intelligence experts suspect the soldiers were beaten to death by Okinawans and dumped in the cave. A military identification bracelet and dental records confirmed Pfc. Smith's identity.
The family stood close together and watched through a window of a Delta Air Lines hangar as the casket was slowly removed from the plane. They gasped as the casket slipped and was almost dropped.
“I think my heart jumped in my mouth,” Mrs. Spaulding said.
As people rushed through the crowded concourse, some meeting passengers, some rushing to catch flights, others arriving and cheerfully meeting friends and relatives, Mrs. Headen walked slowly as she clung to a silver identification bracelet and pressed a picture of her husband against her chest.
“This is all I have left of him and the memories,” she said. “This is shocking, but I am beginning to feel at peace because it is finally over. This is a sad moment for me and yet I am happy because there is closure.”
She last saw her husband when he returned to Cincinnati from the service to attend the funeral of one of their two children in October 1944.
The couple exchanged letters after Pfc. Smith returned to duty but the letters stopped. When Mrs. Headen tried to find out why, military authorities informed her that her husband was classified a deserter. Later, he was listed as missing in action.
Mrs. Headen remarried in 1949 and raised another family. Her son, Richard Headen, went to Hickman Air Force Base in Honolulu Tuesday to escort the remains of Pfc. Smith to Cincinnati.
“I had never met him, but I feel like I know him now,” Mr. Headen said. “I am a Vietnam veteran and I have been around many soldiers ... I was glad to be the escort because I think it brought me closer to him.”
He said Pfc. Smith's remains were covered with a military uniform and placed in a wooden casket.
The family gathered around the casket as it lay on a loading dock at the airport. They held hands and prayed. As the casket was moved from the dock to an ambulance, Mr. Headen stood at attention and saluted.
“I never saw him, but I know now that he is at peace because he is home,” Mrs. Mackey said.
Memorial services for Pfc. Smith will be at 11 a.m. today at St. Simon of Cyrene Episcopal Church, 810 Matthew Drive, Lincoln Heights.
Burial with military honors will be at Oak Hill Cemetery, 11200 Princeton Pike, Springdale. Another military service will take place later for all three Marines at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
“My children and grandchildren have given me a lot of strength to get through this. I don't think I could have made it if they had not been by my side,” Mrs. Headen said.
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