Arlington Ceremony from Medill Washington on Vimeo.
ARLINGTON, Va. — The remains of three newly identified World War II servicemen were returned to their families Wednesday, nearly 67 years after the soldiers’ tank destroyer was attacked in France’s Parroy Forest.
Pfc. Lawrence N. Harris, Cpl. Judge C. Hellums and Pvt. Donald D. Owens were placed as a group in a single casket and buried with full military honors during a morning service at Arlington National Cemetery.
Sgt. Dwight Hellums, the brother of Cpl. Judge Hellums, said the ceremony served as closure for the family and “was very, very emotional.
The three bodies were not recovered after the attack. In 1946, a French soldier found the vehicles remnants along with human remains in the forest. The remains were sent to a cemetery in Belgium and buried as unknowns.
When a French citizen exploring the forest came upon more human remains in 2003, including an identification bracelet that belonged to Hellums, the information was sent to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Europe. Two teams were then able to make a connection between the remains found in the forest to the unknown buried in Belgium, thanks to sophisticated DNA testing and forensic identification tools.
When Hellums got a call in 2006 saying his brother’s remains had been identified, he didn’t believe it. In the accompanying video, he tells the story of getting the call about his brother’s identity.