The remains of Private First Class George Traver were returned home to Chatham, New York on Friday, 73 years after he died during battle in World War II, NBC affiliate WNYT reports.
Traver was 25 years old when he was killed in the South Pacific.
Traver's body was one of dozens recently unearthed in a mass grave and brought home by an organization called History Flight.
Traver's family was on the observation deck at Albany International Airport as the flag-draped coffin was unloaded Friday.
"Today means to me that there's going to be closure," Dorothea Wheeler, Traver's niece, told WNYT. "My grandmother's going to be real happy. She has been waiting for this for a long time."
A law enforcement motorcade then brought the coffin to Chatham, where a funeral was held on Sunday.
