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OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) — A veteran of World War II was laid to rest Friday afternoon at the Omaha National Cemetery, a moment his family had waited for, for years.
Sgt. Melvin Anderson died in battle and years slipped by before he was unaccounted for. It was DNA analysis that brought Sgt. Anderson home.
Family members had been looking for Sgt. Anderson, who was killed in 1944 fighting in the the Hürtgen Forest. His remains were accounted for in April of this year. His family never stopped looking for the fallen soldier.
Joani McGinnis said, “I guess it was kind of interesting because I was doing a lot of research trying to find out what was going on in the Hürtgen Forest and trying to find out what happed to Mel. Read a lot of military records, lot of World War II books, tracked his unit all through Europe in September, October, and November.
“That was real interesting. I had a forensic genealogist call me that tracked me down and was wanting to know if we would consider contributing DNA to the POW MIA Agency and it was like, ‘sure, we’d be happy to.’”
Sgt. Anderson was buried with full military honors Friday. This day brought Anderson’s family great pride and closure.
According to the Department of Defense there are still more than 72,000 service members still unaccounted for from World War II.
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