We begin tonight with a story that demonstrates the true meaning of Memorial Day.

A Kentucky soldier who gave his life for his country in World War II to finally return home to Muhlenberg County just a couple of weeks ago.

Our Laura Rogers takes us to Central City for a homecoming.

81 years in the making.

I'm sorry to have to tell you, but Mary had a telegram last night saying that Kenneth was missing in action.

I found a letter in my grandmother's things.

That letter began a journey of discovery for Mary and Maggie.

We are all nearly crazy, but guess we'll have to bear it.

Written back in 1943, it is notifying her grandmother that her brother, Marianne's great uncle, was missing in action and World War two.

I did know that my grandmother had a brother missing in action, but I think as a child I thought he came home.

Army Private First Class Kenneth Burgess was one of the more than 80,000 American service members from World War Two still unaccounted for.

The first call I had was from a genealogist, and he said he had been hired by the Army to locate the relatives of private First Class Kenneth Burgess, and he wanted to confirm that I was the daughter of a daughter who was daughter of a sister.

McGee was one of four relatives asked to submit DNA to confirm that Kenneth's remains had been found in Italy.

That DNA was a match.

I couldn't believe it.

For the first 24 hours, I just felt like Jell-O.

And.

It was just the most amazing feeling.

End of story is intertwined with another.

He was a grave mate with my uncle.

They were in company B at the fourth Ranger Battalion.

They were our first elite commando force.

That would be Darby's Rangers.

As members of that battalion, Kenneth Burgess and Robert Bryant were reported missing in action following a patrol toward the village of Sala, Italy, on September 25th, 1943.

Their campaign and the Mediterranean, particularly an invasion of Italy, opened the door to victory for Europe, 1947.

They found a grave in a cemetery near San Nicola, Italy, that had two bodies in.

Their remains were designated as X 152 and interred at what is now known as the Rome American Cemetery.

Those two bodies in the dump being my uncle.

And Kenneth, we have a copy of his death certificate and 2019, a historian with the Department of Defense studying unresolved American losses in Operation Avalanche determined Burgess and Bryant were likely lost near where X 152 was recovered.

Their remains were disinterred in 2022.

So grateful to live in a country that is still searching and trying to identify and locate the 80,000 military personnel who are still in my.

On his birthday, May 7th, Kenneth Burgess was given a graveside service and burial with full military honors at Rose Hill Cemetery and his hometown of Central City.

Jim Bryant made the trip from Richmond, Virginia, to be there.

Those two men that could have been the last face they saw were each other.

And I could not not come.

I just had to be here.

The chaplain was an Army Ranger from Fort Benning, and he did a wonderful job.

The service was a reunion of sorts for Marianne's family.

So many relatives and cousins, nieces and nephews who traveled many miles to be there from everywhere.

New York, Michigan, South Carolina.

They bring closure for families.

And in two, it brings to life the stories they have heard for decades about their loved one.

Now, in the case of the Burgess family, they can put the presence of him here with the stories of him fishing in the green River, or the letters that he sent back about his basic training at Fort Dix.

Poor kid has been in a dangerous place for a long time.

I guess this was coming sooner or later, but it sure is hard.

She says it was a touching and emotional experience to honor her great uncle, who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

I feel like in a sense we were honoring, like our parents and grandparents, especially our grandparents, who had just, you know, wished for this day for so long.

So it was really an amazing feeling.

Know.

The defense POW Mia Accounting Agency believes it has the means and technology to still identify 30,000 America