LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Kentucky man who died as a prisoner of war in the Philippines in 1942 is back home.
The remains of U.S. Army Pfc. Thomas Franklin Brooks were flown to Louisville on Thursday.Â
In 2018, the Defense Department disinterred his remains from a mass grave in the Philippines. With new DNA technology, he was positively identified as Brooks in June.
Brooks was one of the first into the Philippines in 1941, just 18 days before the attack on Pearl Harbor during WWII. He and thousands of American soldiers were captured by Japanese fighters and placed into a POW camp there.
Thursday, hundreds of family members and patriot riders escorted his body from Louisville's airport to Mammoth Cave.
"It gives me a sense of pride that so many people came for this. It's been 80- years since he was here," said Sarah Thomas, Brooks' great-great niece.
Brooks will be laid to rest next to his parents on Sunday at the Hill Grove Missionary Baptist Cemetery in Mammoth Cave.
The public is welcome to attend his burial, but seating is limited so people are encouraged to bring their own chairs. Funeral services begin at 11 a.m. Central Time.
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