Hagele and Honts Funderal Home

Tuesday to 5 p.m. Wednesday to honor two fallen soldiers. Army Sgt. Donald L. Baker, originally of Thornton, Arkansas, was reported missing in action September 1950 near Haman, South Korea. The 20-year-old’s remains were identified in January 2018 and returned to his family in Iowa for burial. He will receive full military honors. The Iowa National Guard encourages the public to attend Sgt. Baker’s memorial service beginning at noon Tuesday, June 19, at Cedar Memorial Westside Chapel, 1221 1st Avenue SW in Cedar Rapids. This will be followed by a burial in Oak Hill Cemetery, 1705 Mount Vernon Road SE in Cedar Rapids. Army Pfc. John H. Walker of Morning Sun, Iowa, was reported missing in action November 1944 near Schönthal, Germany. The 20-year-old’s status was changed to deceased November 1945. His remains were identified in April 2018. Pfc. Walker will receive full military honors. Pfc. Walker's memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 20, at Hagele and Honts Funeral Home, 10 SW First Street in Morning Sun, followed by a procession to Elmwood Cemetery on North Washington Street in Morning Sun. ...

John "Johnny" Walker last was seen Nov. 24, 1944, fighting in northwestern Germany in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest. A year after his disappearance, the Army presumed him to be dead.His family was given an American flag and Purple Heart honoring John's sacrifice, but the whereabouts of his body remained a mystery."My parents and my sisters and myself, we all wandered what happened," Bob Walker, John Walker's only surviving sibling, said Wednesday following his brother's memorial service.Bob Walker now lives in Texas next door to his daughter, Debbie Walker. They weren't about to miss Johnny's memorial service. "This is the best thing for Dad," Debbie Walker said. "Dad just kept telling me, 'I just want him to have a military funeral. That's what he deserves.'"And that's what he got.American flags lined the streets of Morning Sun, marking the route from Hagele & Honts Funeral Home to the cemetery. Some residents lowered their flags in their front yards to half staff and others raised them high. Patriotic Guard Riders led the procession. At the cemetery, well more than 100 community and family members and men and women in military uniform awaited John Walker's arrival before placing a flag over his casket and carrying it to the plot where he was to be buried.Second Lt. Lucas Murphy officiated the service, which was complete with a 21-gun salute followed by "Taps," and retired National Guard Col. Todd Jacobus awarded John Walker with a Bronze Star and another Purple Heart on behalf of the president of the United States, both of which he presented to Bob Walker.The last time Bob Walker saw his older brother was in September 1944, when he was home on leave."It's been a long time," Bob Walker said. Folded atop his lap was the American flag that had been draped across his brother's coffin moments before.The Battle of Hürtgen Forest was brutal, and the forest itself thick. A German farmer came across John Walker's remains four years later. The only identifiable characteristic being that he was an America...