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ZEBULON - 73 years is very long time to wait for the return of a loved one after serving honorably in the Armed Forces. 1st Lt. Robert "Eugene" Oxford and the entire crew of the B-24J Liberator named "Hot as Hell" flew on their final flight on January 25, 1944. They were declared in Missing in Action and then Killed in Action with no word of what happened to them for 63 years.

Eugene was engaged to be married, and most of his immediate family passed away without knowing what had happened to him. Now, 73 years later, Lt. Eugene Oxford is coming home.

I got pictures of many who were standing along the roadways, but this was not everyone. Thank you to everyone who came out and showed respect to Eugene and his family. It was one of the most awesome things I have ever seen!

And the one picture that is not in here is Montine Wilson standing at Ingles in the place of her best friend who was engaged to Eugene when he was killed in the line of duty. Susan passed away in 2011, and Montine said that she would be standing out there in her place because Susan had always said that she would be standing there waiting when Eugene came home. Montine was standing by the roadway with a young picture of Susan Brown in her purse just like Eugene would have remembered. I was crying and lived in the moment instead of taking the picture. And I have no regrets. You can read Susan's story in Part II linked at the bottom of the article.

The amount of respect that was shown to the family by everyone involved is enough to bring me to tears almost ten years later. There are more than 50 photos shown here, and that is not all that I took as the Oxford Family allowed me to cover this story from start to finish with them. Click here to view the original, large photos on my personal Facebook page.

Update to the story from April 27, 2026

I did an interview with Levi Steele on his Ordinary People broadcast. https://www.youtube.com/@officialordinarypeoplepodcast It can also be found on Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, iheart radio, and Audible.

Levi asked me about the biggest story I've ever written, and it is this story. As I gathered links for him, I remembered that I uploaded these photos on Facebook but never got around to posting them in an article because there was so much going on with the funeral.

There were so many striking photos in here -- including the photo taken of the honor guard who accompanied 1st Lt. Oxford home -- that this needed to be documented on Pike County Times.

These information in these articles and many of these photos have gone worldwide with the Daily Mail in the UK and various Chinese news outlets in both the United States and China telling Eugene's story and the honor that is given to him by the Chinese people.

I have learned a lot about Chinese culture from kind people that I have met while covering Eugene's homecoming and attending some of the subsequent events where honor is still being shown to an American soldier who gave his life defending the people of China from an invasion by Japan.

BREAKING NEWS: Bringing 1st Lt. Robert Eugene Oxford Home; A Celebration of A Hero from Two Cultures tells the backstory about how this meeting came about: pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BREAKINGNEWSoxford6.13.17.html.

Closing

I have spent many a Memorial Day at Eugene's grave and with Chinese delegations as well as working with a writer, attending a Chinese New Year event, and attending other celebrations since 2017. It has been an absolute honor to cover this story.

More links to articles and photo are included here. The family asked for the hashtag #1stltroberteugeneoxford to be used when posting online so people can browse and see everything from that time. Much can be found from that.

I hope you enjoy reading this part of Pike County's history as much as I have enjoyed writing about it!

Bringing 1st Lt. Robert Eugene Oxford Home - Part I: http://www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BREAKINGNEWSoxford5.8.17.html.

Bringing 1st Lt. Robert Eugene Oxford Home - Part II: http://www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/oxford5.28.17.html.

Chinese Community Pays Its Respects to a Long-Lost Hero By Guest Columnist Al Zhang http://pikecountytimes.com/secondary/chinesecommunity6.13.17.html

Memorial Marker Placed on Grave of 1st Lt. Robert "Eugene" Oxford http://pikecountytimes.com/secondary/oxford12.18.17.html

More photos are below this article.