LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB/WAVE) — For more than 80 years, Mike Raymond McDowell's family had no answers about what happened to him during World War II.
McDowell was just 19 when he was killed in 1944 during a battle in Burma. His remains were never identified, and he wasn't accounted for until January.
But new DNA testing helped identify McDowell, giving his family answers decades after his death. And on Wednesday, family and friends gathered in Kentucky to honor McDowell and lay him to rest in his home state.
For his cousin, Judy Clark, finally bringing McDowell home was an emotional moment.
"To learn all of this is so overwhelming. It really is," Clark said. "You're happy, you're sad, you're mixed, emotional, but it is a big honor to get him back home to his home state."
McDowell was born and died before some of his family members were even born. After more than 80 years, his family can give him the homecoming he never got.
Gov. Andy Beshear ordered flags across Kentucky to be flown at half-staff Wednesday in McDowell's honor.
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