A military honor guard burial service will be held for Captain George William Terry, Jr., on Dec. 1, 2023, at Arlington National Cemetery, Washington D.C. Captain Terry was reported MIA in North Korea on Nov. 15, 1950 and was declared KIA on Nov., 14, 1951.
After 71 years, (2021) his son applied for and was granted disposition for a memorial burial service for Captain Terry at Arlington National Cemetery.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1922, Captain Terry attended Syracuse University. He served during both WWII and the Korean Conflict. Captain Terry, while assigned to the Army Unit Korean Military Assistance Group (KMAG), was killed in action while advising S. Korean forces during fighting with enemy forces in N. Korea. Terry’s remains were not recovered. He was awarded the Silver Star for Valor, Bronze Star with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters & the Purple Heart with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters. His name is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery in Hawaii. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
He was survived, at the time of his death, by his wife, the former Shirley Lee Robinson (d.2022) of Binghamton, N.Y. He also left two children behind: a son, George William Terry, III and a daughter, Barbara Lee Terry. When their mother remarried years later, their names were changed to Willard Everett Pierce and Barbara Lee Pierce. Captain Terry’s mother, Josephine Krumholz Terry (d.1971) and a sister, Marie Terry Sidiski (d.1971) of Long Island, also survived him at the time he was declared dead. His father, George W. Terry, predeceased him in 1934.
The service at Arlington National Cemetery was attended by Captain Terry’s two children, Willard Pierce (Marilou), Fayetteville, and Barbara Pierce Palmer, Stuart, Florida, who both were presented with Captain Terry’s burial flag. His grandchildren, Derek Pierce (Courtney), Barrington, RI, Becca Pierce Hobbs, Houston, Texas, Teri Chantos Pierce, Newark, N.Y, Jason Palmer (Linda), West Palm Beach, FL, and Shyla Palmer, Phoenix, AZ. attended the services. His grandson, Cabel Russell Pierce, passed away Aug. 1, 2023.
His great-grandchildren present for the services were Talyn and Marek Pierce, Newark, N.Y., Jacoby Hobbs, Houston, Texas, Etta and Cora Pierce, Barrington, RI and Harper Lee Palmer, Phoenix, AZ.
The Department of the Army, Human Resources Command, POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Past Conflict Repatriations Branch, DOD, continue to search.
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