Pike County Times
The Pike County Times, PO Box 843, Zebulon, Georgia 30295. You can donate through PayPal at the link on the bottom of the page. Becky Watts: Phone # 770-468-7583 editor@pikecountytimes.com
 
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Photo of Lt. Robert "Eugene" Oxford courtesy of Fold3.com

Recovery photo courtesy of DPAA.
 
BREAKING NEWS: MIA Lt. Robert "Eugene" Oxford Visitation Times Announced
By Editor Becky Watts

CONCORD - The dates and times for visitation have been finalized for Lt. Eugene Oxford's return to Concord, Georgia. Keep an eye on your local media for the fly in time to the Atlanta airport and for the finalized time on the funeral.

The families of eight crew members of the B-24J Liberator nicknamed "Hot as Hell" that went down in the service of the United States finally know what happened on January 25, 1944. For the family of Lt. Eugene Oxford, there will be closure. For the rest of the grieving family, there are still hopes that their loved ones will be returned to them after more than 73 years as well. This service will honor the service and sacrifice of all eight members of this flight as well as lay Lt. Eugene Oxford to rest.

Lt. Oxford will be flown into Atlanta on Thursday, June 8th. The time on this will be fluid so keep an eye on your local news sources online and radio for further detailed information. He and his family will be escorted by the Patriot Guard from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport to Moody-Daniel Funeral Home in Zebulon. Those wishing to show respects to the family on this day can line the roadways with American flags to show your support.

Visitation with the family of Lt. Oxford will be at Moody-Daniel Funeral Home on Friday, June 9th from 5 to 8 p.m. Moody-Daniel Funeral Home is located at 10170 Highway 19 North just north of Zebulon.

There will be a second night of visitation for Lt. Oxford on Saturday, June 10th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 11, 2017 in the Pike County School Auditorium in Zebulon. All of the family members of "Hot as Hell" will be remembered during this service.

Lt. Oxford will be laid to rest in Magnolia Cemetery in Concord, Georgia after the service. Those who would like to show their respects to the family can attend the funeral or gather along Highway 19 between the Auditorium and the Courthouse (or even at the Courthouse) and along Highway 18 between the Courthouse and Magnolia Cemetery in Concord with American flags.

[Note from the Editor: These are the final arrangements for the funeral and graveside ceremony.]

The funeral will begin at 2 p.m. and end by 2:40 p.m. 2:40 to 3:25 will be the transition to the graveside at Magnolia Cemetery. Graveside remarks will be conducted from 3:30 to 3:45 p.m. with military honors conducted at the conclusion of the ceremony.

The family is asking that donations be sent to Clayton Kuhles at MIA Recoveries.org in lieu of flowers.

Sherri Moody from Moody-Daniel Funeral Home said that a volunteer is making yellow ribbons to line the roadway from the Memorial Service to the cemetery. Volunteers will be needed to place the ribbons on poles along the route and remove the bows after the funeral is complete. Those who would like a yellow ribbon for their mail box can pick one up at the funeral home as well. Call Sherri at 770-567-8642 to pick up a ribbon or find out how you can help!

The DPAA representative who spoke to family members about this repatriation process said that they can get an idea of the respect that is being shown to Lt. Oxford by watching the movie “Taking Chance” starring Kevin Beacon.

Pike County Times is working on an in-depth article to show the meetings between government representatives and the family as well as the care that has been taken to identify Lt. Oxford (Uncle Eugene to his family members) and finally bring him home. Click here to read that article.

Please keep in mind that there are other grieving family members who lost loved ones in this crash who haven't been given the closure that the Oxford family is receiving with his return home. Many in the Oxford Family and "Hot as Hell" family are hoping that the government will continue this repatriation process until the other seven members are returned home.

Pike County Times has been covering the story of these crew members and their families since 2007.

Click here to read these articles.

Click here to read Bringing 1st Lt. Robert Eugene Oxford Home - Part I. This article tells about the Repatriation process and was written in early May.

Click here to read Bringing 1st Lt. Robert Eugene Oxford Home - Part II. This article was written in June and tells about the family waiting for him back home and the girl he left behind.


Introducing the first sponsor of Pike County Times’ Breaking News Alerts! First Bank of Pike has been serving customers in Pike County and the surrounding area since 1901 and offers Personal and Business banking with a personal touch. Services include checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and IRA’s. Mobile Banking and Bill Payment services are also available! Click here for more. Please let First Bank of Pike know that you appreciate their sponsorship of Breaking News Alerts on Pike County's only FREE online newspaper!

If you want to find out about how you can get Breaking News Alerts, click here. Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!

4.21.17
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BREAKING NEWS: MIA Lt. Robert "Eugene" Oxford Finally Coming Home in June
By Editor Becky Watts

CONCORD - The family of WWII MIA Airman First Lieutenant Robert “Eugene” Oxford requests the help of the community in welcoming home their loved one after 73 years. They are asking the community to put out yellow ribbons and to line the roads as Lt. Oxford is finally returned home to his final rest in Concord, Georgia.

Update 4.5.17: Sherri Moody from Moody-Daniel Funeral Home said that a volunteer is making yellow ribbons to line the roadway from the Memorial Service to the cemetery. Volunteers will be needed to place the ribbons on poles along the route and remove the bows after the funeral is complete. Those who would like a yellow ribbon for their mail box can pick one up at the funeral home as well. Call Sherri at 770-567-8642 to pick up a ribbon or find out how you can help!

Lt. Oxford was a bombadier on the B-24 nicknamed “Hot as Hell” that was lost on a routine mission over the Himalayan Mountains in India on January 25, 1944. I was privileged to sit in with the family as they received the official notification on his return to Concord, Georgia from the Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center Representative Jim Bell, from Ft. Knox, Kentucky, and Capt. Tim Schriver from Fort Benning, Georgia.

Lt. Oxford will likely be flown into Atlanta and escorted to Pike County by the Patriot Guard and family members who have waited for this moment since they were notified that the crash had been discovered ten years ago. Those who would like to show their respects can line the route as he is brought to Moody-Daniel Funeral Home in Zebulon from the Atlanta Airport on Thursday, June 8. There will be a Memorial Service for Lt. Oxford on Sunday, June 11, 2017. The time and location are to be determined at this time. Following the service, Lt. Oxford and his family will be escorted to the Magnolia Cemetery in Concord, Georgia. The family and community would like to see as many people as possible lining U.S. Highway 19 from the location of the memorial service to the Courthouse Square and on GA Highway 18 from the Courthouse Square to Concord and Magnolia Cemetery.

Times and locations will be announced as soon as they are known. [Note from the Editor: I had previously reported that the Memorial Service would be held at the Auditorium but am being told that the final location is not set in stone. So, please keep an eye on Pike County Times for more information as it becomes available.]

The DPAA representative who spoke to family members on Friday, said that they can get an idea of the respect that is being shown to Lt. Oxford by watching the movie “Taking Chance” starring Kevin Beacon.

Look for an article on Friday night’s meeting between government officials and the family on Lt. Oxford’s homecoming soon. Pike County Times has been covering the story of these crew members and their families since 2007.

Click here to read these articles.


Introducing the first sponsor of Pike County Times’ Breaking News Alerts! First Bank of Pike has been serving customers in Pike County and the surrounding area since 1901 and offers Personal and Business banking with a personal touch. Services include checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and IRA’s. Mobile Banking and Bill Payment services are also available! Click here for more. Please let First Bank of Pike know that you appreciate their sponsorship of Breaking News Alerts on Pike County's only FREE online newspaper!

If you want to find out about how you can get Breaking News Alerts, click here. Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!

4.4.17
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BREAKING NEWS: MIA Lt. Robert "Eugene" Oxford Finally Coming Home
By Editor Becky Watts

CONCORD - The families of eight crew members of a plane that went down in the service of the United States finally know what happened on January 25, 1944. The B-24J Liberator nicknamed "Hot as Hell" left China for India on a routine ferrying mission and never arrived at its destination. Family members of Missing In Action (MIA) Lt. Robert "Eugene" Oxford have been notified that his remains have been identified and, after seventy-three long years, Lt. Robert "Eugene" Oxford is finally coming home.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) conducted a recovery mission in India’s Himalayan Mountains in the Arunachal Pradesh region in 2015. The recovery mission was ended prematurely, but remains from the "Hot as Hell" crash site were recovered in India in October of 2015 and brought back to the United States for identification. Honor was shown in a repatriation ceremony both in India and Hawaii in 2016.

This recovery was made possible by the identification of the "Hot as Hell" crash site by Arizona adventurer Clayton Kuhles who documented the crash site and filed an archeological site report form with the Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) Accounting Command on December 7, 2006 showing that the plane had been located near Damroh, India. http://miarecoveries.org

Family member, Merrill Roan, contacted Pike County Times by phone today and said that DPAA has notified their family that the remains recovered in 2015 are those of Lt. Robert Eugene Oxford. She said that the Army is going to fly him home and pay for the burial expenses.

"One thing that I would like to see is veterans from all around to come to his service," Merrill said. "I would love to have the streets lined with people welcoming him home."

Unfortunately, no other crew members were identified from the remains brought back to the United States. Family members of the remaining seven crew members are hoping that their loved ones will be brought home as well.

Pike County Times spoke to Clayton Kuhles of MIA Recoveries, Inc. by email this afternoon and he advised me of the following: "My company submitted a technical proposal last year to DPAA that would include having my archaeologist team complete the excavation work at Hot as Hell. The aircraft site is slightly less than 50% excavated. I'm 100% certain that my team and I can recover additional crewmembers from the site."

Readers can find out more about MIA Recoveries, Inc. by clicking here.

Pike County Times will notify readers and our local American Legion Pike Post 197 of the return of Lt. Robert "Eugene" Oxford. Pike County Times has been covering the story of these crew members and their families since 2007.

Click here to read these articles.


Introducing the first sponsor of Pike County Times’ Breaking News Alerts! First Bank of Pike has been serving customers in Pike County and the surrounding area since 1901 and offers Personal and Business banking with a personal touch. Services include checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and IRA’s. Mobile Banking and Bill Payment services are also available! Click here for more. Please let First Bank of Pike know that you appreciate their sponsorship of Breaking News Alerts on Pike County's only FREE online newspaper!

If you want to find out about how you can get Breaking News Alerts, click here. Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!

3.6.17
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