The remains of a US soldier killed during the Second World War have been returned to his home town in Pennsylvania after DNA analysis identified him more than 80 years after his death. John A Walko, a US Army Private First Class, died on 20 October 1944 during the Battle of Aachen in Germany.
His remains were classified as "X-99 Henri-Chapelle" at the American cemetery in Belgium. The Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) exhumed them three years ago and used anthropological analysis and DNA testing to positively identify them as Walko.
His sister, Sally Gaydosh, 96, told Cleveland.com she had waited nearly eight decades for news of her brother. Her daughter, Holly Gaydosh, described the return as "bittersweet", saying he was "the uncle that was always missing".
Earlier this month, a veterans' motorcycle group escorted Walko's remains from Pittsburgh airport to Commodore, Pennsylvania. Residents lined Main Street with American flags as the hearse passed, and firefighters displayed a flag from a firetruck. Walko was interred on Wednesday, laid to rest alongside his parents and brother.
The DPAA also announced that another Second World War soldier, Robert J Barrat, had been identified. Barrat, a US Army Air Forces 2nd lieutenant, died in a bombing mission to Germany in 1945 and will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery on 27 May.
