HAZELTON - When Geneva Tadlock accepted a neatly folded American flag in remembrance of her brother on Sept. 19, she also accepted closure after 59 years of waiting.

At Rupert's POW-MIA Day, U.S. Army Cpl. Max Bailey was finally given his last rites with full military honors. And Tadlock finally felt that her brother would have some peace.

For a family of the Hazelton soldier missing in action, the overwhelming uncertainties were the worst part. Was Bailey dead or alive? Did he suffer?

And there the painful hypotheticals - what if he'd stayed home, gotten married? Every day since November 1950, Tadlock and her family have carried the weight of those uncertainties.

To Tadlock, Max is still the jaunty 19-year-old little brother who joined the Army during the Korean War without telling his parents. Lynn and Myrtle Bailey were against it, Tadlock said, but all Max's friends were going. He didn't have grand ambitions of military leadership - he just wanted to get out and see the world.

Tadlock said he was a little spoiled, and he did whatever he wanted. It was his undoing.

"When we got the telegram in the mailbox, my folks just kind of clung to each other," Tadlock said. "They had had so much death in their lives. But they accepted it.

"My dad had had an experience once before, when a fellow he knew passed away. He felt like something was smothering him. It happened again with Max, so he kind of knew."

Lynn Bailey had lost many family members, and he and Myrtle lost several infants before raising their seven living children.

Max's niece, Joly Madewell, can understand how it must have been.

"When my son turned that age where he could go, it just ripped my heart out," she said. "It has been such a big heartache for my mom all these years."

Max's mother had a dream on the day the family believes Max was killed.

"He always used to come in the door and yell, 'Mom, I'm home.' That night she heard him say it, just as clear as if he was there," Tadlock said.

Of course, Max was in Korea, fighting through the bloody Chosin Reservoir battle when he disappeared into the fog of war.

"We spent those years just wondering," Tadlock said. "You don't know if you should pray for him or what."

She relished the military ceremony that put her brother to rest once and for all.

"I felt proud that somebody would do that for somebody they didn't even know. It was really nice," said Tadlock. "We met the mayor and a city councilman. Everybody was really nice to us."

Tadlock, her two daughters - Madewell and Tamera Ahrendsen - and Tadlock's brother, George Bailey, have all donated DNA for a study, hoping someday Max's remains will be found and there will be evidence to make a match.

Ahrendsen has been the sparkplug in keeping the family connected to Max a priority.

"I got the internet," she said. "I'd ask for information, and we found out one thing and then another. I didn't even know he was in a heavy mortar company, Company M. I had to look up what mortars were. I didn't know."

She found a book on the war online, which she said she couldn't get very far through without crying.

"Then I found out they have meetings in Salt Lake once a year to update families (of missing soldiers). I went to one in 2002 and one last year," Ahrendsen said."

She found that a Web page about Max didn't list his next of kin or include a picture, things she quickly remedied.

"Maybe someday they can use that DNA we gave," Ahrendsen said. "Things aren't looking too good over there right now (in Korea). But maybe in my kids' time. All this information I've collected will go to my oldest son. Or if not in their lifetime, maybe Cody, our oldest grandson."

Coreen Hart may be reached at jimnreenie@pmt.org or 208-436-1186.