When Edward Drown was growing up, his father Donald Drown, a World War II veteran, talked about a younger brother who served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and was listed as missing in action. That was about all Donald knew about his younger brother, Harold, and so that was all Ed could learn about the uncle he'd never met.

Edward Drown never heard anything more about Uncle Harold, but for years the Drown family hoped Harold's remains would be found and returned someday or, at least, a headstone could be erected to memorialize the missing brother.

Donald barely remembered Harold, because when Donald turned 18, he left the family farm in Sutton and joined the Army, fighting in World War II. When Harold turned 18, he too joined the Army and left the farm, never to return. Donald has no memories of his missing brother today. Another brother, Reginald, died a few years ago and sisters Mona Colby and Cynthia John are both patients at the Pine Knoll Nursing Home in Lyndonville.

Edward Drown, however, remained committed to learning more about his uncle and hoped the information could lead to closure for the family. One big stumbling block was that Ed didn't even know Harold's date of birth.

Starting in 1995, Ed began the effort to close the book on his uncle. He went through every channel and federal agency he could think of, but none of them could help him. All of them told Ed he had called the wrong office or didn't have the information they needed to help him.

A year ago Ed went to the Sutton Town Clerk's Office where Town Clerk Debbie Ogden helped Ed find Harold's birth certificate. There is no death certificate for his uncle on file in Sutton. A friend of Edward Drown, William Giguerre of Sutton, also helped Ed a great deal. Giguerre and Drown are both members of the American Legion in Vermont and both hope to continue helping veterans and families of veterans.

While discussing his long and fruitless search for information on Harold, someone suggested Ed contact the Burlington office of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. Ed had grown discouraged and somewhat cynical at that point, having worked for 15 years to find out about his uncle without much to show for the effort. Nonetheless, he called Sanders' Burlington office and was amazed at how helpful Sanders' staff could be and how willing they were to help. Armed with his uncle's date of birth and the help of Sanders' staff, Ed began to make progress.

He quickly learned his uncle was a Corporal who was a member of Headquarters Company, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the North Korean Army near Taejon, South Korea on July 20, 1950. He was presumed dead on Dec. 31, 1953. He is still listed by the U.S. as "presumed dead" and no remains have ever been found and returned and no dog tags have ever been produced. Ed is unaware of any witness account of his uncle's death.

When Harold Drown went missing, he was 24 years old and his name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Sanders' office helped Ed walk through the paperwork to obtain a memorial headstone for Harold and last November, after 16 years of effort, the inscribed memorial headstone arrived and was placed next to the Drown family headstone in the Burke Hollow Cemetery.

Today the memorial is marked by a small American flag. The Drown family were also given all of the medals and ribbons which would have been awarded to Uncle Harold had he survived. Corporal Drown was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.

Searching online accounts of Harold Drown's military unit, it would appear Harold and his unit would have been in the City of Taejon, South Korea, on July 20, 1950. His 24th Infantry Division fought a seven-day battle against a strong, well equipped North Korean Army. The 24th Regiment had been told to hold the line and contain the superior North Korean forces in order to buy enough time to allow American and South Korean reinforcements to move up. At the end of the Battle of Taejon, the Americans counted 922 men killed and 228 wounded with almost 2,400 missing, most of those men from the 34th Infantry, according to an online article of the battle. While the American forces were badly mauled and forced to withdraw from Taejon, Harold Drown and his fellow soldiers were successful at holding the North Korean forces and slowing their advance until the American forces had a chance to move up.

According to federal archives, 94 Vermonters were killed fighting in the Korean War.

Sen. Bernie Sanders said on Friday that he has two staffers in his Burlington office dedicated to assisting Vermont constituents with veteran's affairs. He said he was gratified his office had been able to help Ed Drown and said he would urge any Vermonter to contact his office for help with any issue involving Veterans' Affairs.

Today Ed and his father Donald are thankful for the memorial marker commemorating the missing brother and uncle and providing closure for the Drown family on this Memorial Day.

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