Edison Korean War Veteran Finally Laid To Rest

EDISON, NJ — Sixty-eight years later, Army Sgt. Frank J. Suliman is finally coming home from the Korean War.

Just 21-years-old, Suliman was captured and held in a Korean prisoner-of-war camp, where he died of dysentery and pneumonia. His remains stayed there until this past weekend, when he was finally brought home to Edison.

A funeral was held at Boylan Funeral Home in Edison Tuesday morning, where 15 police officers stood post, and Edison firefighters paid their respects. Edison police provided an escort from the funeral home to Brigadier General William C. Doyle Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown, which will be Suliman's final resting place.

"This is a sad day for our town as Army Sgt. Frank Suliman, a native of Edison’s Bonhamtown section, is finally laid to rest with honor and dignity on American soil. I am thankful that Sgt. Suliman’s family now has the closure and peace-of-mind they deserve," Edison Mayor Thomas Lankey said in a statement. "I am proud of our Township police officers who escorted Sgt. Suliman’s remains from Newark Airport to Edison on Sunday; who stationed a 15-officer Honor Guard at the Boylan Funeral Home today; and escorted to the sergeant to his final resting place in Wrightstown. I hope our officers were a comfort and source of strength to Sgt. Suliman’s family members."

Suliman was awarded the Purple Heart in recognition of his service. The Suliman family received a certificate from President Lyndon Johnson, and a uniform jacket pined with medals was draped on top of Suliman's wooden casket.

Suliman's remains were returned as part of an agreement the United States and North Korean governments reached last year. Fifty-five boxes containing remains of American service members killed in the war were sent to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii to be identified. According to an Army press release, military scientists used mitochondrial DNA, autosomal DNA, circumstantial and material evidence to positively identify Suliman.

Although Suliman's remains were sent back to America, many other families have not yet received the same closure: Over 7,600 Americans remain unaccounted for.

According to an obituary, Suliman was born to John and Anna Suliman, and was one of ten children. After graduating from vocational high school, he joined the Army and was later deployed to Korea. He is survived by two of his sisters, Olga Anderson and Mary Yaverski.