Photo: Reece Funeral Home
(Des Moines, IA) -- Governor Kim Reynolds is ordering flags in Iowa to fly at half-staff today to honor Army Corporal White of Ottumwa.
White died while a prisoner of war in North Korea in 1951.
After he was accounted for through DNA analysis, he returned to Ottumwa for burial.
White was 20 years old when he died as a prisoner of war.
Obituary from Reece Funeral home:
Corporal Delbert Lloyd White was born February 10, 1931 in Ottumwa, IA to Lloyd Vincent and Darlene Edith Jay White.
Corporal White joined the U.S. Army during the Korean War and served in D Company, 2nd Engineer (Combat) Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. On December 1, 1950, he and many other soldiers were captured by the Chinese People’s Volunteer Forces and were marched northward to Camp 5, Pyoktong, North Korea.
He was held there as a prisoner of war until his death in mid-March 1951 at the age of 20. His remains were returned to the United Nations Command after the war and were buried as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1956.
On September 27, 2022 the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of Corporal White, missing from the Korean War.
Corporal White was awarded the Purple Heart, the Prisoner of War Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.
Surviving is his brother, David (Sharon) White and his sister, Mary Turner.
He was preceded in death by his parents and siblings, Ralph White, John White, Louise Griffiths, Paul White and Elizabeth “Betty” Eganhouse.
Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Friday, June 16th, at Reece Funeral Home with Chaplain Doug McAntire officiating. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, next to his parents, with military honors conducted by members of the Iowa Army National Guard.