George Housekeeper lll, right, and his brother, Dan, look at their father's Purple Heart after receiving his remains Thursday. The Purple Heart, along with numerous other medals and citations earned by Army Master Sgt. George R. Housekeeper Jr., were presented to them in a ceremony at the Army Reserve Center in Butler Township. Housekeeper Jr. was killed in 1950 during the Korean War.

BUTLER TWP — After decades of waiting, a Butler County family has been reunited with the remains of a U.S. Army soldier killed in one of the decisive battles of the Korean War.

Master Sgt. George R. Housekeeper Jr. was already a veteran of one war, and was a newly-minted father of two sons — one 16 months old and another just six weeks old — when he left home to fight in the Korean War.

According to Army records compiled as part of the investigation into Housekeeper's death, his last mission came as part of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's plan to drive the North Korean and Chinese forces north from the Yalu River in 1950.

MacArthur's plan was straightforward: a 2,500-soldier force called X Corps that included Housekeeper's unit would relieve Marine units on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir, take control of a vital road running along the waterway, and then attack north toward the Manchurian border.

Housekeeper was no stranger to combat when he marched to Chosin with the 31st Infantry Regiment in November 1950. He had left home as a teenager and lied about his age to enlist in the Army during World War II. Among the numerous citations posthumously awarded to him Thursday was a World War II Service Medal, a Combat Infantry Badge, a Victory Medal, a Korea Service Medal, a Presidential Unit Citation and a Purple Heart.

The long list of military honors presented Thursday left Sgt. 1st Class David Wheeler, the casualty assistance officer for the Housekeeper family, in awe.

“To fight not in one but two wars tells you how much love for his country (Housekeeper) had,” Wheeler said. “For someone to extend (their service) and fight — to me that speaks volumes.”

By late November 1950 the United Nations forces already stationed at Chosin were uncertain whether MacArthur's plan would meet with serious resistance. Marine units reported small skirmishes with Chinese forces, but a major battle seemed unlikely. Then there was a surprise assault on Nov. 27, when about 120,000 Chinese troops encircled the 30,000 United Nations troops that included Housekeeper's unit.

The battle — which ultimately helped China achieve recognition as a major military power — stretched for 17 days amid freezing weather and ended with UN forces executing a fighting withdrawal and suffering more than 17,000 casualties in the process.

Housekeeper's unit, which was among those honored for their tenacity during the fighting, was almost destroyed during the Chinese assault. And though the Army never received definitive word of his fate after the battle, he was officially declared killed in action as of Dec. 12, 1950.

Years later, in 1956, the Army ultimately declared Housekeeper's remains nonrecoverable, after an agreement that repatriated the remains of thousands of American soldiers killed in Korea turned up no trace of him.

Housekeeper's sons, George III and Danny, both of whom live in Butler County, said they never thought they would live to see their father's remains buried on American soil.“We knew so little about what happened to him,” said Danny, who lives near Saxonburg. “I had resigned myself to the fact that I'd be dead and gone before they found his remains.”That didn't stop the family from trying, George III said. Their grandfather — a U.S. Army veteran himself — actually took the extraordinary step of re-enlisting so he could travel throughout Army hospitals during the Korean War, searching for his son. And their father's brother, John, spent years contacting George Jr.'s surviving friends from the service.The closest the family ever got to closure, Housekeeper's sons said, was finding a friend who was at his side when he died and was able to provide the family with a letter he had written.Nonetheless, the Housekeepers still submitted DNA samples when they learned that the Army was working to identify the remains of soldiers. And in June Army officials came calling with the news that Housekeeper's remains had been identified by investigators in Hawaii, where his remains had been kept since 2004.“It gives you chills,” said George III of Thursday's ceremony. “We're just thankful for the dedication and hard work of the Army and the people involved.”Army officials say Housekeeper will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery in April of next year. An exact date for the burial has yet to be determined.

George Housekeeper Jr.