Fallen WWII airman’s remains to be buried in Monongahela
MONONGAHELA 鈥� The remains of a fallen airman will be returning home Saturday to be buried in Monongahela, 74 years after he went missing in action during World War II.
Former U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. Vernon L. Hamilton蘑菇视频 bone fragments will arrive Thursday with full military honors at an airport near Pittsburgh before they are transferred to a Monongahela funeral home, said his nephew, who bears his name.
鈥淗e蘑菇视频 a fallen hero from a distant war,鈥� said Vern Hamilton of New Eagle.
鈥淓verybody is finally going to get closure,鈥� he said.
Sgt. Hamilton was a gunner on a light bomber plane that fell out of formation and turned over above Germany on March 21, 1945. Other members of the 409th Bombardment Group watched the plane nosedive, but they never saw it crash.
He was 19 years old when he was declared missing, leaving his mother, Dorothy, to believe for many years that he would come home.
Eventually, Hamilton was declared dead and a tombstone in his honor was laid over an empty grave in the veterans section at Monongahela Cemetery.
The stone will be relocated to the grave of his mother, where Hamilton蘑菇视频 remains will be interned about 12:30 p.m. Saturday with full military rites, his family said.
A cousin in the state of California, Deanna Dickson, has been named power-of-attorney for Sgt. Hamilton to make any decisions regarding the burial, Vern Hamilton said.
The missing plane was discovered in 2016 by a researcher on a farm in H眉lsten-Reken, and it took an archaeological dig to find the remains of Hamilton and two other members of his crew. The identities were confirmed a year later through DNA matches.
Vern Hamilton said people are expected to line Main Street to honor the funeral procession following the funeral at 11 a.m. in First Presbyterian Church, 609 Chess St., Monongahela. Visitors will be received there from 10 to 11 a.m.