It’s been 68 years since James Ivory Jubb died.
On Wednesday, the remains of the Korean War casualty will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
“Jubby,” as he was known to his friends growing up in Eastport, was reported missing on Aug. 10, 1950, during fighting with the North Korea People’s Army near Katong River in South Korea.
A year later, the Army recovered four sets of unidentified American remains from a mountain near Ohang, east of the Naktong River. One set of remains, designated “Unknown X-2160” could not be identified and were subsequently interred at the National Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
Last year, based on research regarding two individuals who remained unaccounted-for from Jubb’s unit, analysts from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency determined Unknown X-2160 could likely be identified. The remains were removed from the cemetery in October 2017 and sent for analysis.
Scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as chest radiograph comparison, which matched with Jubb’s records on Jan. 25.
Among those marking his identification, this week are Lisa Hirano, a Gold Star family member and retiree from Honolulu. She’s visited those who are about to get disinterred by the military and returned to their families. She recalls sitting by the marker for X-2160.
“Not knowing who these fellows are until the funeral notices go out, it turns out that James Jubb was one of the ones I’d spent time with, asked permission to take photos of for his kin, and shared our gratitude,” she wrote in an email.
Jubb joined the Army after graduating from Annapolis High School and served as a mechanic in Company E, 2nd Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. When his unit was attacked, it was located near the modern city of Busan, then known as Pusan.
He grew up Burnside Street in Eastport when it was a separate village just outside the town of Annapolis. It would be annexed the year after Jubb died.
His friends have recalled him as a storyteller, who never told the same tale twice.
“We were all very poor, but Jubby always found a way to make me a model airplane or car,” John Christenson, a childhood friend who now lives in Montgomery County, said in an email exchange earlier this year.
Betty Tucker of Severna Park is Jubb’s niece and his closest surviving relative. After submitting a letter in April regarding the identification of his remains, she declined to comment through the Army on Wednesday’s ceremony.
In her earlier comments, she said she doesn’t remember much about her uncle. She was 2-year-old when he was listed as missing in action.
Jubb was one of 15 men from Anne Arundel County who didn’t come home from the Korean War. With the identification of his remains earlier this year, Sgt. Charles Emory Zepp is the only one still listed as missing.
There’s a photo of Jubb in the 1946 Annapolis High yearbook. It shows him dressed in a plaid shirt, hair slicked back. A photo released by the Army on Monday shows him in his uniform.
Jubb returned to Annapolis after basic training but quickly quarreled with his new brother-in-law, Christenson said. The fight landed him at the county courthouse.
Judge Benjamin Michelson was ready to fine Jubby $10 or send him to jail for 10 days. Christenson, who was in the courtroom that day, remembers the judge and a young soldier full of youthful confidence.
“You can’t get blood out of a turnip, as I don’t have any money,” Christenson quoted his friend as saying.
He recalled Michelson’s reply: “No, but I can put the turnip in jail.”
When the judge found out the private was home on a short leave before being shipped to Korea, he had a change of heart. With a stern warning, he dropped the charges and ordered Jubb to the train station.
“That was the last time I heard from my good friend, Jubby,” Christenson wrote.
Betty Tucker’s mother, Catherine, talked about that day as well.
“My mother said the last time she saw Jubby was at the train station, I was with her and she said he pulled on my nose as if it to take it off my face,” Betty wrote in an email earlier this year.
Today, 7,677 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. Using modern technology, identifications continue to be made from remains that were previously returned by North Korean officials or recovered from North Korea by American recovery teams.
Jubb’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the cemetery in Honolulu along with the others who are missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for, a statement from the Army said.
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© 2018 The Capital (Annapolis, Md.)
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