World War II Soldier Finally Laid to Rest

Seventy years of wondering are over for the family of U.S. Marines Corps Pvt. Robert McConachie of Detroit, who persuaded his father to sign a waiver that allowed him to join the war effort when he was 17.

Months later, on June 14, 1945, he was killed during heavy fighting on Kunishi Ridge, WWJ/CBS Detroit reports, but his remains languished unidentified for decades.

In 1987, they were deposited at the Army’s Central Identification Laboratory at Hawaii’s Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, but it wasn’t until two months ago that a final identification was made using new DNA testing technologies.

McConachie was laid to rest with full military honors at Fort Custer National Cemetery in western Michigan Monday, and family members who knew him only through stories of his sacrifice received some long-awaited closure, WWMT-TV reports.

“Growing up I knew a little of my uncle,” Col. Andrew McConachie, the fallen soldier’s nephew, said, “but today allows us to know him better.

“It’s something the family has always thought about,” he said.

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Col. McConachie accompanied his uncle’s remains from Hawaii back to Michigan, where dozens of World War II veterans, the Honor Guard and the Patriot Guard gave Pvt. McConachie a final salute. He said the experience was “humbling.”

“Today’s service was more than just family and friends remembering my uncle,” Col. McConachie said. “It was really the nation honoring the fallen.”

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Screenshot: WWMT-TV video