Mrs. Wayne Thompson, the former Miss Elaine Harness, recived a telegram from the War Department about 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday of this week stating that her husband, Pfc. Wayne Thompson, who had been overseas only about three months, had been killed in action last Friday, September 5. Wayne was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter T. Thompson of Coldwater.The Star is without further facts at this time but will have more details for next week's issue.
This is the second Korean war casualty of Comanche county soldiers, the other being Sgt. Bob Burnett, son of Mrs. W. Kuster of this city.
The sorrowing relatives have the sympathy of our entire community.
The people of Coldwater were shocked and saddened on Wednesday of last week when word came to Mrs. Elaine Thompson that her husband Pfc. Wayne Thompson, had been killed in action in Korea on Friday, September 5.In a letter received the past week from a brother of Mrs. Thompson, Russell Harness who is also in Korea with the Army we learn the following:
--"I went to see Wayne yesterday but got there about two hours too late to see him. I got there about 12:00 o'clock and he was killed about 10 o'clock.As soon as they told me I went down to the forward aid station for I thought he might just be wounded. They had already sent him to the grave registration office. He was killed instantly so never suffered any. It was a mortar round fragmentation that hit him in the chest. I talked to some of his buddies and company commander so found out all about it.
He was killed right at the main line of resistance close to hill 400 just to the left of 1062. He was taking a message or something to the company commander. As he arrived at the main line of resistance mortar rounds started coming in so he jumped out of the jeep and was running for a bunker when more rounds started coming in and he got hit. I know right where it was for I've been there many times when in the Kum Hwa area--"
Obituary. Wayne Lyle Thompson, son of Walter T. and Clara M. Thompson, was born September 19, 1928, at Coldwater, Kansas, and was killed in action in Korea on September 5, 1952. In two weeks he would have been 24 years of age.
He lived most of his life north of Coldwater near the Comanche-Kiowa county line. He attended grade school at the Reeder school and high school in Coldwater. He was a member of the Methodist Church at Coldwater.
On August 6, 1950 he was united in marriage to Miss Marjorie Elaine Harness of Coldwater. Following their marriage they moved to a farm southeast of Coldwater and lived there until Wayne was called into service on August 9, 1951.
He was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, until he was ordered overseas. He arrived in Japan on May 27, 1952 and from there was sent to Korea and combat duty on June 5, 1952. He was sent directly to the front lines and most of his time was spent there.
His last furlough home was from April 11 to May 1. While he was home then he received the degree of Master Mason in the Comanche Lodge No. 295.
He is survived by his wife, Elaine; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walter T. Thompson; two sisters, Anna Lou Einsel and Marjorie Overocker; three brothers, James, Clyde and Clair; thirteen nieces and nephews; several aunts, uncles and cousins and a host of friends.
The sorrowing relatives have the sincere sympathy of all.
The body of Pfc. Wayne Lyle Thompson, who was killed in September 5, 1952, by a mortar fragmentation while delivering a message to the front lines in the Kum Hwa sector in Korea, arrived in San Francisco Wednesday of this week and is scheduled to arrive in Coldwater with a military escort on Friday.Funeral services will be held in the Coldwater Methodist church Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock with the pastor, Rev. H. C. Atkins, in charge. The American Legion and Masonic bodies will each sit in a group during the services and each will have a service at the grave. He will be buried with full military honors.
Pfc. Thompson was the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter T. Thompson of Coldwater and the husband of Mrs. Elaine Harness Thompson, whom he married August 6, 1950. He lacked only 14 days of being 24 years of age.
The hearts of all our people are heavy as they join in paying tribute to the first casualty of the Coldwater community whose body has been returned during the Korean war.
Final rites for Pfc. Wayne L. Thompson, who was killed in action in Korea on September 5, 1952, were held in the Methodist church in Coldwater Sunday afternoon, November 2, and the great banks of flowers and throng of friends and relatives who filled the church to overflowing gave mute evidence of the regard in which this soldier who made the Supreme Sacrifice was held.The pastor, Rev. H. C. Atkins, brought a heartening message in which he said, "All of the advancements of freedom and betterment of our nation and its people have been hard-earned and at a great cost as untold thousands have invested their lives for the betterment of humanity - No greater love hath any man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
Mrs. Rose Beeley sang "God's Tomorrow" and "My God and I," accompanied on the organ by George Wolf. The pallbearers were Jim Wolf, Clinton and Clayton Sherman, Harold McKinney, Virgil McIntyre, Norman Hadley, Ralph Einsel and Don Robinson.
Comanche Lodge No. 295, A. F. & A. M., and Comanche Post No. 122, The American Legion, sat in groups at the service and at the grave the Masonic service for their departed brother was followed by the Salute to the Dead and by the American Legion firing squad and taps by Jerry Smith.
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