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Weather halts quest by Mass. veteran to find war remains

BEIJING — Thomas J. Hudner Jr., a Massachusetts veteran of the Korean War, arrived in Beijing on Monday after a 10-day visit to North Korea aimed at finding the remains of the Navy buddy he was unable to rescue during the war.

Bad weather made it impossible for Hudner to visit the site where his comrade’s plane crashed 62 years ago, but he hopes to return.

More than 100,000 Chinese soldiers swarmed far fewer US Marines and soldiers in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, one of the fiercest clashes of the war. Hudner, a Navy lieutenant, and Ensign Jesse L. Brown took off from an aircraft carrier to provide cover for soldiers on the ground.

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Brown was the son of an African-American sharecropper from Mississippi. Hudner, who now lives in Concord, was the son of a white patrician family from Fall River.

Brown’s plane was hit by enemy fire, forcing him to crash land on the side of a mountain at Chosin, north of Pyongyang. Hudner brought his plane down nearby and found Brown, but could not rescue him.

Hudner said he made the trip to help bring closure not only to himself but to Brown’s widow, Daily Brown Thorne.