Missouri family receives Korean War veteran's medals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A family in western Missouri has received medals for a Korean War veteran 65 years after his disappearance.

The family of U.S. Army Cpl. Edward Comstock gathered Sunday in a Kansas City park to receive the medals and citations Comstock earned before he went missing in action after a firefight in the war in April 1951, The Kansas City Star reported.

The Army presumed he was dead in December 1953.

Comstock's medals include the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Korean Service Medal with the Bronze Service Star.

Gwinaver Stoneking, one of Comstock's sisters, also received a 48-star American flag, which was the version of the flag during Comstock's disappearance.

The original flag the family received in honor of Comstock's service was buried a decade ago with Comstock's mother, Dorothy Donaldson.

Korean War veterans with the American Legion Post 189 presented the flag, which was accompanied by a 21-gun salute.

The Greater Kansas City American Legion Band also played military songs at the event.

Comstock enlisted in the Army when he was 17.

He was wounded in 1950 and spent Christmas at home with shrapnel wounds in his back. But he didn't stay away from the war for long, said Sylvia Brown, another sister of Comstock.

"He wanted to do his duty," Brown said. "He said, 'I'm going to finish the job I started.'"

More than 900 service members from Missouri are among the more than 35,500 people who died in the Korean War.