A soldier came home for the last time yesterday. He received a hero’s welcome and his family found closure but it all was 77 years in the making. Private First Class Wilmer White was a young man, a 21 year old newlywed, when he was killed in action.

He was far from his Meigs County, Ohio home and bringing him back wasn’t an option at the time.

A part of the famed Merrill’s Marauders, he was killed on July 2, 1944. His remains were unidentifiable and he was temporarily buried in U.S. cemeteries in Burma and India. One set of remains, identified only as Unknown X-52 Kalaikunda, was interred in 1949 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

Imagine that.

A family – parents, eleven siblings, a young wife – who waited for him to come home. Most who knew him went to their graves waiting for closure, waiting for their young man to be found and buried in their southern Ohio community.

It’s unimaginable.

Forensic evidence last year finally allowed this to happen. His remains were identified, in part thanks to DNA from a living relative.

Yesterday in Pomeroy, Ohio people lined the streets to pay their respects in a swell of patriotic pride. A Girl Scout troop passed out flags, veterans came in their POW/MIA shirts and strangers stood together in the street. We all were temporarily united by our pride, respect and an odd mix of sorrow and joy as we watched the horse drawn hearse turn the corner on his final journey.

Someone wrote a beautiful obituary for PFC White, describing him as a young man who collected treasures from his adventures roaming the countryside and playing in the Shade River.

PFC White was a talented artist who could draw a realistic likeness. He was a good hunter who also enjoyed building things with wood and repurposed items.

“He was a well loved young man by all that knew him” reads the obituary.

When I heard that the public was invited to pay their respects, going seemed like the right thing to do. My feelings were a mix of sorrow for a life cut short and joy that he was going home to be buried in a cemetery on the family farm.

It’s hard to imagine the anguish felt by a family waiting for 77 years to have their loved one identified. While scientists have been busy identifying PFC White and others like him, there still remain about 6,000 World War II soldiers whose families continue to wait.

At least one family and one community can rest knowing they did their best to give their hero the long overdue welcome he deserves.

We tend to think of soldiers killed in history as names or statistics. It tends to all be very impersonal. It’s when we humanize the stories that we gain understanding of the profound loss and the magnitude of their importance. To that end. I hope you will take two minutes to read his brief life story at this link.