ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (AP) – A Chicago-area Marine killed during World War II has returned home after 75 years being buried in Hawaii as an unknown serviceman.
Patriot and honor guard members escorted the remains of Marine Corps Tech Sgt. Harry Carlsen of Brookfield to Arlington Heights on Wednesday for memorial services. Carlsen’s great nephew, Ed Spellman, joined other relatives and veterans at O’Hare International Airport to meet the casket.
Spellman says a phone call came of the blue in July that his great-uncle’s body had been identified. He says his mother donated DNA in 2008 for the identification, but she died in 2012.
Carlsen was 31 when he was killed while storming a Japanese stronghold in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands.
He’ll be buried Saturday at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery near Joliet.
