San Jose family honors remains of WWII veteran returned home, identified through DNA after 80 years
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- An honorable procession was held for a World War II veteran returning home. He was declared missing in action in 1944, but then last year his niece was asked to take a DNA test.
After more than 80 years, the remains of Lieutenant Robert McCollum are back home. On Thursday evening, his family saluted his arrival at the Mineta San Jose Airport.
Hundreds of people and the organization, Honoring Our Fallen, helped make this moment happen.
Three siblings touched the casket of their uncle.
From the airport, San Jose Police officers and other first responders held a procession to Oak Hill Funeral Home & Chapel.
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It was there that ABC7 spoke to McCollum's 75-year-old niece and San Jose resident, Sandy Bellou.
"Shaking, completely honored, blessed and overwhelmed, I think," Bellou said.
McCollum was born in Ohio and was 22 years old when he served in the Air Force during World War II.
He was on a bombing run to Politz, Germany, when his plane collided with another during formation and crashed into the Baltic Sea.
Bellou's grandparents never knew what happened to their only son.
"They went to their grave not knowing if he was a prisoner of war or if he died or if he was disabled," Bellou said. "He always told his parents that if he was disabled during the war he wasn't coming home because he didn't want to be a burden to his family."
Last summer, Bellou, along with her siblings, submitted a DNA test to the military. It was just before Christmas that they found out there was a match made.
"They had forensics, they had almost a complete skeleton of Robert in his plane with his gun, his bones were still in his boots under the ocean off the coast of Denmark," Bellou said.
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Danish divers made the discovery in 2019.
His nephew Dale Bergman said it's a total shock to see the level of effort made to identify him.
"I can't really describe how meaningful it is to have the combination of historians, anthropologists, medical docs, the collection of talent it took to pull all the pieces together," Berman said.
As a Vietnam veteran himself, Bergman said he's blown away by the whole thing.
"I served in an era where we weren't very popular," Bergman said. "And I have a lot of people who are left behind. And they were able to find my uncle and bring him home, stirs up a whole lot of things."
McCollum will be buried by his sister and parents at Oak Hill.
"There's thousands and thousands of people that have never been found, they're still missing, and to find someone is a miracle, so don't ever give up hope. You could be next," Bellou said.
Lieutenant McCollum will be laid to rest on Saturday, May 3.
