Alvin Scarborough went off to war more than 80 years ago. And today, he’s finally coming home….
“Anything that we can do to honor him, you know, I’m in on it.”
Roger Barrett is the Ride Captain for a group of motorcyclists who’ll be escorting the hearse carrying Scarborough’s remains from Memphis to Carthage this afternoon. The Patriot Guard Riders have been honoring fallen service members and first responders since 2005…
“I do it because I just feel like it needs to be done.”
During World War Two, Scarborough, a native of Dossville, was a staff sergeant serving with the Army’s 454th Ordnance Company (Aviation) when Japanese forces invaded the Philippines shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. He was taken prisoner and forced to endure the infamous Bataan Death March which he survived. But he later died of malaria and dysentery in a POW camp in July of 1942 at the age of 22. He was buried in a mass grave along with other POWs. After the war, his remains could not be identified and he was listed as unaccounted for. But in 2018, remains exhumed from an American cemetery in Manila were taken for laboratory analysis and were officially identified as Scarborough’s in 2023.
Those remains will be arriving by plane in Memphis around noontime today and will be transported down I-55 to the Vaiden exit, then south on Highway 35…
“(They’re) coming down through Kosciusko. We expect them to be around Kosciusko, or Carthage, I should say, about 3:30 or somewhere in that area.”
Barrett is encouraging the public to come out to pay their respects…
“If you want to get your people up in there to be on the side of the road and welcome him home, that would be great.”
The Patriot Guard Riders will stand a flag line for visitation for Staff Sergeant Scarborough at Wilcox Funeral Home in Carthage from 12:30 until 2:30 Saturday and will provide an escort to Corinth Baptist Church in the Singleton community for his funeral service. He’ll be laid to rest at the cemetery there with full military honors.
Judy Hearon
March 26, 2025 at 8:14 AMWhat an awesome story. I’m so Thankful this Soldier’s body has been identified & that his family will finally have some closure. Thank you for your Service to this Great Nation Sir. USA🥾🥾🇺🇸
Sheila Barnette Linn
March 26, 2025 at 10:30 AMThis is truly an amazing gift from our Lord Jesus Christ. Mr. Scarborough, thank you for your service. He will rest now in the cemetery where so many of his family members are buried. I grew up knowing the Scarborough family through my grandparents, who owned a grocery store in Singleton (A.M. Johnson Grocery). Glory and Praise to our Heavenly Father for offering peace after all these years to this family. God’s blessings to all.
Shelia Pumphrey
March 26, 2025 at 1:22 PMWe shall never forget your service to our America. Now you can rest in eternal peace. Welcome home, hero, welcome home 🇺🇸
GT
March 26, 2025 at 10:11 PMI don’t know the Scarbrough Family but I do know this much. The Military Member sleeps in the Lord, No matter, if He was a Christian or not because everyone does.
I know his Parents are dead, and most likely his Sibling’s are also.
The remaining Family probably had peace in their minds that Sgt. Scarbrough had been
brought home but nothing more. They have known of his death for some years.
If he had a Wife she most likely has passed on also.
If He had Children they may be dead. Most likely they are. All sleeping in the Lord waiting to be called forth by God himself.
I’ll mention at this point that the Dead Sea Scrolls were a great gift to all. The book of Enoch (E-Knock) was found in them. if you have not read it get a copy. Kindle Unlimited has it in their catalog for free. I loved the clarity of it. It explains a lot of Revelations and the Letters to the Churches.
Christ will divide the Wheat from the Chaff. He will judge Christians. He tells us He will walk those saved through the fires. That We will be as silver and gold. Tried, tested, and true.
A comforter was sent to the Scarbrough Family long ago as promised. Most likely there is no one alive who remembers Sgt. Scarborough.
We should rejoice as a community. The Bible tells us to be like Job. Praising God in the good and the bad times. This reuniting of a soldiers body with the land and people He fought for is just and right. Although, I doubt they recovered his entire body since it was buried in a ma** grave. There will be miracles on Judgement Day. One will be witnessing God reunite Souls with their entire bodies them connecting them to the new body He promised to all Christians.
My husbands Uncle died in War. I have never seen him cry over his Uncle. I tell that to explain the sheer joy I feel that a true patriot’s been reunited with his family for Judgement Day.
I will rejoice that his parents and sibling will feel joy to see him with them, where He belongs.
No greater gift can a man give than to lay down his life for others. The Bible tells us that those men who do show the love they feel for their fellow man. Christ says. He couldn’t ask for a clearer example of loving thy neighbor.
The Bible tells us to seek and follow Christ’s teachings in all things. I hope I’ve given no offense to others. That wasn’t what I intended. God be with us all as We walk our Christian path to salvation and no second death.
The Earth as we know it must be destroyed for the new kingdom to come.
Even so come quickly Jesus my Brother.
Pearl Allen
March 27, 2025 at 8:18 AMMy great-Grandmother was Ermine Inez Scarborough McCrory. My grandmother was Pearl McCrory Turner. I remember my mother telling of when Alvin and Eugene’s mother would be visiting, but at mealtime she would simply wring her hands and say that she just could not eat without knowing her boys had food. She knew they both were prisoners of war. Eugene made it home, and out in California he established Scarborough Lumber Company, just as brothers Jim and Don did in Kosciusko.
My faith tells me that these boys and their mother know about their brother and son being found, and brought home to rest with his family.. God is so good !!
Welcome home, Cousin Alvin. Rest well….