13 WTHRColumbus serviceman returns home 60 years later

Columbus serviceman returns home 60 years later

Emily Longnecker/Eyewitness News

Columbus - Until a year and a half ago, Robert W. Langwell was a name on a monument in downtown Columbus for Brenda Showalter, one of Bartholomew county's native sons killed serving his country.

"I never met him. He was my mother's first cousin," said Showalter.

"He was killed in 1950, quite a bit before I was born," she added.

But now, Showalter is part of the reason Langwell is finally coming home, 60 years after he was killed off the coast of South Korea.

Langwell was aboard the USS Magpie when it hit an enemy mine and sank on October 1st 1950. His body was never recovered.

But that changed more than a year ago.

"This person called us and said, 'Well, we've found your relative that went down in the Korean War,'" Langwell explained.

Showalter says Langwell's journey home began with an elderly fisherman in South Korea who told a story about the young sailor he'd buried after he'd found the body tangled in his fishing net.

"He showed them where the burial sight was and sure enough, there he was," said Showalter.

But just to be sure, Showalter and her sister gave DNA samples.

"Now they can identify people that maybe before they've never been able to identify before," explained Showalter.

"I'm so glad that I could do this for him though I didn't know him, I'm glad that we can do this for him," she said.

Langwell's family thought about bringing him home to Columbus, the town where he was born. Instead, they opted for a funeral with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

"It will give me a sense of peace that he's there in this place that honors soldiers. And he'll get the respect and his gravesite will be respected," said Showalter.

After 60 years, Ensign Robert W. Langwell is coming home.