Remains of Korean War POW returned to widow who waited

LOS ANGELES - On Friday, there was a homecoming for an American soldier in Los Angeles.

A predawn ceremony honored Army Sgt. Joseph Gantt, and the 95-year-old widow who waited to welcome him.

Gantt died as a POW in Korea 62 years ago. Clara Gantt never stopped hoping that her husband would one day return home.

What was she thinking that moment she stood over his coffin?

"He's here but not the way I want him to be here, but the Lord brought him home," she said.

Clara Gantt kept a shrine to her husband, Joseph, in the bedroom. He died as a prisoner of war in 1951, but his remains were not identified until last month.

"He told me if anything happened to him he wanted me to remarry, and I told him, 'No, no,'" Clara Gantt said. "So here I am, still his wife."

Sgt. Gantt will be buried later this month.

Why did she not give up hope despite the many years it took for his remains to be identified?

"That doesn't make any difference," she said. "I didn't give up hope for my husband."

So she always thought this day would come?

"That's right," she said. "So I'm happy that I'm still alive to bury him myself."

Nearly 7,900 Americans who fought in Korea are still listed as missing in action.