For 58 years, Margie Griswold of Marietta never gave up hope. It was Nov. 27, 1950, that her brother was reported missing in action in the Korean War. It was December 2008 that his remains finally were identified, thanks to a gold tooth and DNA on file from his family.

“It was one of those closure moments you could write a story about,” said her son-in-law, Keith Hoffmann of Fayetteville.

The MIA status of Griswold’s brother, U.S. Army Cpl. Samuel C. Harris Jr., 21, of Rogersville, Tenn., was never talked about in her family, said Griswold, who grew up as Ruth Harris in Rogersville. Harris’ mother died thinking he was still alive because no body had been found.

During a 1964 visit to the Punch Bowl Crater Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Griswold first realized there was something she could do to try and find her brother.

“I decided if God wanted me to find him, He’d lead me to him,” Griswold said. She joined an MIA-prisoners of war support group. In 2002, she and her surviving brothers and sisters contributed DNA to help the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command identify her brother if any remains were ever found.

“DNA is used in approximately 80 percent of our identifications as a piece of that puzzle that leads to positive identification,” said Capt. Mary Olsen of the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office.

Harris, who wanted to make the Army his career, was assigned to Company C, 65th Combat Engineer Battalion, 25th Infantry Division. On Nov. 25, 1950, Company C came under intense enemy attack near Hill 222 south of the Kuryong River east of the Camel’s Head bend in North Korea. The men were reported missing Nov. 27. The family held a memorial service for Harris in 2004 and will gather again Friday for his 1 p.m. burial in the national cemetery. It will be the second Arlington burial for Griswold. Her husband, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Walter Lee Griswold Jr. of Marietta, died in February 2006 and was buried there. In 2000, a joint United States/North Korea team excavated a mass grave overlooking the Kuryong River in P’yongan-Pukto Province. Harris was first identified by the gold tooth he had since childhood. Definitive identification came from a match with the DNA samples the family had donated.

Shock was Griswold’s first reaction when she was notified her brother had been identified. “It was like electricity was running through my whole body. I was laughing and crying at the same time,” she said.

“I’m going to work real hard to get across to anyone who has a person missing in their family from any war to go get the DNA,” Griswold said. “That match with the few bones that were left is what gave us positive identification.”

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DONATE DNA

Contacts to donate DNA to help identify a missing family military member:

U.S. Air Force 1-800-531-5501

U.S. Army 1-800-892-2490

U.S. Marine Corps 1-800-847-1597

U.S. Navy 1-800-443-9298

Contact the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office 703-699