TOLEDO, Ohio — The family of an Oregon soldier killed in World War II announced arrangements for his burial, 80 years after his death.
Staff Sgt. Jack Coy was killed on Feb. 24, 1944, when the plane he was on was shot down in Germany.
On Feb. 12, 2024 - just under 80 years later - the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPPA) announced Coy had been identified using mitochondrial DNA analysis. The DNA was provided by his niece and her daughter, Shawnelle Johns, of Oregon.
EARLIER COVERAGE: 'Anything to bring him home': Oregon family makes plans to lay to rest uncle killed in WWII
According to DPPA spokesperson Sean Everette, Coy's remains and others that were comingled were recovered by Germans and buried in a local cemetery.
No one knew to whom they belonged.
In 1952, the American Graves Registration Command retrieved Coy's remains and the others and buried them in Belgium, but they still could not be identified.
The remains were brought to an American lab in 2021 and matched to the mitochondrial DNA provided by Johns and her mother, then separated from the other two servicemembers with whom he was originally interred.
"They asked if we could do DNA sampling so we said, 'Of course, anything to bring him home,'" said Johns.
Until now, artifacts belonging to Coy and sent to the family by the Army, and an empty grave at Willow Cemetery in Oregon, were all the family had of their uncle Jack - the hero they never met.
"It's been almost 80 years," said Johns. "That headstone's still there, and it's empty, and it's not going to be anymore."
Johns said the family is encouraging all community members to pay respects to Coy at multiple events on Memorial Day weekend.
There will be a visitation in the Clay High School gymnasium on Saturday, May 25 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., with a service at 3 p.m.
Sergeant Coy will be laid to rest with full military honors at Willow Cemetery in Oregon on Sunday, May 26 at noon. A special memorial service will be held to honor all local fallen heroes at Clay Memorial Stadium on Memorial Day, May 27 at 11 a.m.
Johns said there are also discussions about a processional to escort Coy's remains from either Detroit Metropolitan Airport or Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, as well as a processional from Eggleston Meinert & Pavley Funeral Home on Sunday to Willow Cemetery, but those are not yet finalized.
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