|
It’s been a week since Nathan "Woody" Bagley, 80,
from Rincon, GA, received a life-altering call from
William E. Cox, Past Conflict Repatriation Branch,
FT Knox, KY telling him that remains of his father,
Luther E. "Buck" Bagley, had been identified.
His father,
who has been MIA since he was Killed
in Action
July 25, 1944, was one of
about 2,500 reinforcements
to the
expendable, top secret5307th Composite Unit
Provisional, better known as Merrill’s Marauders,
flown into Myitkyina, Burma to fight against the
superior Japanese 18th Division..
"Woody" was stunned after answering Cox’s 9 AM
call on Tuesday, May 14th, and learning that DNA
he’d sent in years ago had enabled his father’s
remains to be identified.
"Somehow I managed to talk and answer Cox’s
questions, but I actually went into a ‘lockdown"
state and reality didn’t hit me until after the call
ended," said "Woody." "I walked toward my wife, Pat,
to tell her, and I couldn’t talk. Pat thought
something horrible had happened since it was 10
minutes before I could speak. Both of us were
crying."
"Woody" and Pat immediately drove to Pembroke,
GA, to gather with other family members and tell his
mother, Eleanor Stark, who turns 100 in September,
that "Buck" would be coming home. Tears began
flowing again.
"The only thing we know at this point is that his
remains have been identified," said "Woody,"
explaining that funeral details and additional
information will be officially provided by the Army.
Woody was
11 months old and his mother was 19 when a relative
went to Southeastern Shipbuilding Corp. in
Savannah where she was working as a Rosie the
Riveter, to tell her "Buck" had been Killed
In Action in Burma July 25, 1944, at age 22.
"Buck" was 20 years old – and Eleanor 17 – when he
was drafted in 1942 from his hometown of Fitzgerald,
GA. He had been working in a cotton mill after
quitting high school to support his parents.
Eleanor and baby "Woody" were able to visit
"Buck" only once after he joined the Army and before
he shipped out of Fort Meade, MD port of embarkation
"to parts unknown."
"Even though I remarried and have three wonderful
daughters, ‘Buck’ was the ‘great love of my life’,"
said Eleanor. "I am grateful that God let me live
long enough to make this happen. I have been waiting
with a broken heart for 80 years."
"Buck" was a Private First Class, K Company,
assigned to the 5307th Composite Unit Provisional,
nicknamed Merrill’s Marauders, when he arrived in
the China Burma India Theater in late May 1944.
After northern Burma’s strategic Myitkyina
airfield had been seized May 17, 1944, with only
about 200 combat-capable Merrill’s Marauders
remaining, "Buck was among the first 5307thCUP
reinforcements flown in to help hold the airfield
and capture the town of Myitkyina.
When "Buck" was
Killed In Action July
25, 1944, it was only one week from when the town of
Myitkyina finally fell Aug. 3, 1944. One week later,
the 5307thCUP dissolved Aug. 10, 1944.
The tiny
number of remaining Marauders plus the 5307thCUP
replacements became the 475th Infantry.Today’s
75thRanger Regiment, headquartered at Fort Moore, GA
(previously Fort Benning) traces its lineage to
Merrill’s Marauders. The 75thRanger Regiment crest
is the Marauder patch.
In 2020, a Congressional Gold Medal was awarded
to the Merrill’s Marauder unit, honoring all the men
who had served in the 5307thCUP up until it was
dissolved Aug. 10, 1944, "in recognition of their
bravery and outstanding service in the jungles of
Burma during WW II."
The last living Merrill’s Marauder, Russell
"Huck" Hamler, who died Dec. 26, 2023, at age 99 in
Pennsylvania, was interred January 19, 2024, at the
National Cemetery of the Alleghenies near
Pittsburgh.
The funeral will be August 10th in Fitzgerald, a
small town east of Cordelle, GA. Cordelle is right
off I-75 from Atlanta.
Paulk Funeral Home
301 South Main St.
Fitzgerald, GA 31750
229 423-2022
Family
Visitation ………………………………… 8:00 AM to 8:30 AM
General
Visitation ………………………………… 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM
Proceed to
cemetery for graveside service between 10:30 to
11 AM
Evergreen Cemetery
279 Benjamin H Hill Dr. East
Fitzgerald, GA 31750
229 426-5063
|
