A Sort of Homecoming

An American hero is finally coming home.

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Pvt. Odell Sharpe, killed during World War II, is finally coming home.

The remains of Sharpe — presumed slain on Christmas Day 1944 when he as only 19 — were recently identified from a skeleton found in a foxhole near the Belgian-German border.

Now his family is preparing for something long overdue: a funeral.

"I had just made up my mind that I would never know what happened to him, and believe you me, there was many a day I wondered," his sister, Mary Miller, said Wednesday from her home in the farm town of Uvalda.

Three Belgian civilians working for a non-governmental group that searches for lost World War II casualties discovered the remains in September 2003. They found pieces of an infantry soldier's uniform, a skeleton, upper and lower jawbones and dog tags bearing Sharpe's name.

The military did not notify Sharpe's family until more than a year later, after thoroughly analyzing the bones and teeth to make sure they matched Sharpe's medical records.

This reminds me of the old anecdote in which Charles de Gaulle demanded that all American troops leave France, and either President Eisenhower, President Johnson, or Secretary of State Dean Rusk (I've found conflicting reports on the web) angrily replied with something to the effect of "Alright, but it might take us a while to dig them all up."