By MARIEKE ANDRONACHE

Special to The Press

On June 27, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. For the next three years, what is commonly referred to as the Korean War took place.

Many historians consider this the first major clash of the Cold War, with North Korea having the backing of the Soviet Union and China, while South Korea fought with the support of the United Nations, primarily the United States.

For a Northampton family, those first few weeks of the war changed their lives forever.

“The story I was told is that Eddie wanted to drop out of school in 10th grade but that his father wouldn’t allow it,” said Mark Prickler, the nephew of Pfc. Edward J. Reiter. “By 11th grade, the papers were signed, partly because there seemed to be no real job prospects in the area.

“Just like a few of his friends, Eddie decided to join the Army,”

Prickler spoke with The Press about his late uncle, as well as the events that have been unfolding since Reiter’s remains were recently identified by Washington, D.C., officials.

“It’s cool. A little conflicting because, as the family spokesman, there are times when it gets to be a bit much. But it’s all good,” Prickler said.

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accountability Agency, 8,157 Americans perished, of which 7,529 remain unaccountable in the Korean War. Technology continues to be used by the Department of Defense to identify remains of MIA soldiers.

Dental anthropology, chest radiograph comparison and mitochondrial DNA analysis was used to identify Reiter.

The latter deals with a small portion of DNA found in the eukaryotic cell, which is transferred to the offspring from the mother.

Scientists can track one’s ancestry back to many generations on the maternal side.

Not much is known from the time Reiter left his parents’ home in Northampton to his untimely death in Ch’Onan, South Korea.

But with the recent identification of his remains, more details have come to light of what most likely happened.

Shortly after joining the Army, his unit, K Company, 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, was deployed to South Korea.

Members of this unit were the first U.S. troops sent to the war zone, which, at that point, had only started seeing exchanges of fire a couple of weeks earlier.

Their mission was to defend the South Korean city of Ch’Onan from North Korean troops.

On July 7, 1950, the unit suffered heavy casualties and were forced to retreat, leaving some, including Reiter, behind. He would be declared by the Army as “nonrecoverable” in May 1956.

However, the start of another story concerning Reiter’s fate had already begun.

In May 1951, two sets of remains were discovered near Ch’Onan. One was determined to be of Asian ancestry, the other, to be known as X-1091, was determined to be of European ancestry.

By August 1954, it was determined X-1091 was unidentifiable and the remains were sent to the Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, commonly known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Years ago, Pickler’s cousin Alice brought her mother, Helen Reiter, who settled in Salisbury Township, to the Punchbowl.

Reiter refused to leave until she found her brother’s name on the memorial. No one in the family even realized Reiter’s remains could be there.

Then things started to change six years ago. Prickler’s mother was contacted by Washington, D.C., for a DNA sample. Three years later, X-1091 and 52 other remains were disinterred for further analysis. Officials contacted the family. After 72 years, the remains of Pfc. Reiter were identified.

As Prickler explained, for his mother, who has lived in Northampton all her life, this brought a sense of closure.

She had been very close to her brother, who was only one year older, and took his disappearance very hard. She made a point of ensuring younger members of the family knew of Reiter.

A meeting between Prickler, his cousins and Washington, D.C., officials recently took place to discuss preliminary funeral arrangements. At that time, it was decided Prickler’s mother would be presented with the flag draping her brother’s coffin, as well as his Purple Heart Medal.

A viewing and funeral were arranged for Queenship of Mary Catholic Church, Northampton. Reiter was laid to rest next to his parents and other relatives at the adjacent cemetery.

His name already appeared on a stone that his parents had made when he was officially declared MIA by the Army. The family will be adding that he was identified on June 21, 2022.

At the Punchbowl in Honolulu, a rosette will be engraved next to his name, symbolizing he has been found.

Prickler said he began to realize the significance of what has happened and how this might give hope to other families with MIA relatives.

He did not want politicians to attend the funeral or viewing as politicians.

“This is not the time to politicize things, but rather to come together out of respect for a fellow American who went to war. If you are a politician, come as a fellow Pennsylvanian or American,” Prickler said.

“This is not about us,” he said. “This is about all families with MIA relatives who are hoping for closure.”