Looking Back: DeKalb soldier missing in action for more than 74 years returns home

Look back at more Shaw Local News Network coverage of the Aug. 5 homecoming.After going missing during combat and presumed dead for more than 74 years, DeKalb native and Korean War soldier Sgt. Jack Benton Baker returned home Wednesday.There aren’t many people still alive who have memories of Baker. He went missing in action in the middle of combat just shy of his 20th birthday in 1950.But Baker’s niece Dale Wheeler, 83, of Poplar Grove, and nephew John Barry DeWane, of Boise, Idaho, 81, shared what they could. They were younger than 10 when Baker went off to war.“I’m glad that he’s in our possession, but I wish he was still alive,” Wheeler said. “He was my favorite, one of my favorite uncles. I had a good time with him every time I was with him. ... I’m just going to miss him, but the Lord said he had to come home.”Up until July 2025, Baker’s whereabouts remained unknown. He was interred ceremoniously in unmarked graves for those who went missing and were never found during wartime.Mo