80 years later, local family brings closure to missing soldier's death

After nearly 80 years, the remains of U.S. Army PFC Luther Elwood “Buck” Bagley, a native of Fitzgerald, Georgia, have been identified. From July 1944 to May 2024, PFC Bagley was missing in action. He was killed in Burma on July 25, 1944 while serving as a replacement rifleman for Merrill's notorious Marauders.

In 2023, Bagley was posthumously inducted into the Georgia Military Veterans Hall of Fame as inductee #163.

It's been nearly two weeks since Nathan “Woody” Bagley, 80, of Rincon, Ga., received a life-changing call from former Conflict Repatriation Officer William E. Cox at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, telling him that the remains of his father, Luther E. “Buck” Bagley, had been identified.

His father, who has been MIA since he was killed in action, was one of approximately 2,500 reinforcements from the top-secret 5307th Provisional Composite Unit, better known as Merrill's Marauders, flown to Myitkyina, Burma, to fight against the superior Japanese 18th Division. .

Woody was stunned after answering Cox's call at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 14, and learning that DNA he sent years ago had helped identify his father's remains. “Somehow I managed to speak and answer Cox's questions, but I actually entered a state of 'containment' and the reality only hit me after the end of call,” Woody said. “I walked over to my wife, Pat, to tell her, and I couldn’t speak. Pat thought something horrible had happened since 10 minutes had passed before I could speak. We were both crying.

Woody and Pat immediately drove to Pembroke to reunite with other family members and tell his mother, Eleanor Stark, who turns 100 in September, that “Buck” would be coming home. The tears began to flow again.

“The only thing we know at this point is that his remains have been identified,” Woody said, explaining that funeral details and additional information will be officially provided by the military.

Woody was 11 months old and his mother was 19 years old when a relative went to the Southeastern Shipbuilding Corp. in Savannah, where she worked as Rosie the Riveter, to tell her that Buck had been killed in action at the age of 22 years old. When he was drafted in 1942, Buck was 20 years old and working in a cotton mill after leaving high school to support his parents.

Eleanor and baby Woody were only able to visit Buck once after he joined the army and before he left the port of embarkation at Fort Meade, Maryland, “for regions unknown”.

Eleanor said, “Even though I remarried and have three wonderful daughters, Buck was the “great love of my life,” I am grateful that God allowed me to live long enough to make this happen. I have been waiting with a broken heart for 80 years.

Buck was a Private First Class in Company K, assigned to the 5307th Provisional Composite Unit, or Merrill's Marauders, when he arrived in the China-Burma-India theater in late May 1944. After the strategic airfield at Myitkyina was seized, in northern Burma on May 17, 1944. With only about 200 Merrill Marauders capable of combat, Buck was among the first reinforcements of the 5307th CUP sent by air to help hold the airfield and capture the town of Myitkyina.

When Buck was killed in action, only a week had passed after the town of Myitkyina finally fell, on August 3, 1944. A week later, the 5307th CUP disbanded, on August 10, 1944. The small number of remaining Marauders plus the 5307th CUP replacements became the 475th Infantry. The current 75th Ranger Regiment is headquartered at Fort Moore, Georgia (formerly Fort Benning), which traces its lineage back to Merrill's Marauders. The crest of the 75th Ranger Regiment is the Marauder patch.

In 2020, a Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to Merrill's Marauder Unit, honoring all men who had served in the 5307th CUP until its disbandment on August 10, 1944, “in recognition of their bravery and exceptional service in the jungles of Burma during World War II.

The last living Merrill Marauder, Russell “Huck” Hamler, died on December 26, 2023 at the age of 99 in Pennsylvania and was buried on January 19, 2024 at the Alleghenies National Cemetery near Pittsburgh.

The remains of Luther Elwood “Buck” Bagley are expected to arrive in July and full military funeral arrangements will be announced at that time.