A group of about 40 strangers patiently waited Friday for Sgt. William Eugene Brashear at the Evansville Regional Airport after the plane carrying his urn was delayed about 40 minutes.
Members of the Indiana Rolling Thunder were present to welcome Brashear home and escort his remains to Owensboro, Ky. About 62 years after Brashear died in the Korean War, his remains finally returned home to Owensboro, Ky.
Brashear's plane was delayed twice due to Chicago's weather, but finally reached Evansville about 1:50 p.m. on Friday.
"This particular soldier, most of his family is gone," said Jack Miller, Rolling Thunder chapter 6 chairman. "He has no family to see him, so we're his family."
Everyone at the airport clapped loudly as Schuck walked through the tunnel of Rolling Thunder members carrying Brashear. Schuck smiled and said he didn't expect all this as a homecoming for Brashear.
"It feels good, it's an honorable thing," Schuck said.
Brashear's urn was scheduled to stay in the National Guard Armory in Owensboro until his funeral with full military honors Saturday.
Brashear will be buried in Owensboro's Elmwood Cemetery.
Jerry Blake, Evansville's chapter 6 president, said Brashear has had a cemetery plot since 2011, but its taken a while to get his remains home.
Blake said they often have fallen soldiers return home from World War II, Korea, Vietnam.
"It's what Rolling Thunder is all about — and the Joint Pacific Area Command (JPAC) are constantly finding people," Blake said. "The problem is, once they find them, and they may find several bodies at the same time ... it's a slow process to try to get these soldiers identified."
Blake believes even after all these years, being able to bring Brashear home brings some closure.
A Mount Vernon woman, who chose to remain anonymous, was present to welcome Brashear home holding an American flag and a poster that read "Thank you for your service to America."
In 2007, scientists from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory reanalyzed the remains and were eventually able to identify Brashear.
At the time of his death, he had a 7-month-old son, Alan Eugene Brashear. In 1987, his son became the 14th person to receive a heart transplant at Louisville's Humana Hospital Audubon. He died a few years later. Brashear was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.
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