WWII soldier identified after 79 years, granddaughter speaks out

SAN DIEFO, Calif. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - An American soldier who never returned home from World War II (WWII) was finally laid to rest at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, but his remains were identified a few months ago.

For years, Second Lieutenant Gene Walker's family had limited information about him. They relied on old photos and newspaper clippings.

"We knew he was a handsome guy...People say I look like him, but we did not have a whole lot of information about who he was as a person," said Lindsay Collingwood, Walker's granddaughter.

Walker was the commander of a tank that was struck by heavy-duty artillery in Germany during WWII. According to the U.S. Army, the attack killed walker instantly, but heavy fighting in the area prevented surviving crews from retrieving his body. Later, his remains were hard to identify.

An unexpected phone call

Back at his home in Indiana, his daughter was only three-months-old and grew up with little knowledge of her father. She later moved to San Diego's North County, and last July, she got an unexpected phone call.

"I think it was a phone call she never expected, and I don't know that the shock has quite settled yet from that...even after this many months," Collingwood explained.

Walker's remains were identified, providing his family, including his granddaughter and two great grandkids, a sense of closure they never thought they'd get.

"We're excited...I think there's a lot of different emotions because this was not something that we ever expected to happen," Collingwood expressed.

A hero's homecoming decades in the making

The Collingwood family had previously provided DNA samples to the military five years prior, but had begun to lose confidence in a positive result. Then the ID came, and along with it, new information about their loved one.

"We've learned a whole lot about his life and his experience and his last days through our interactions with the Army...We're very grateful that they've put all of this work into researching and communicating to us."

Lindsay Collingwood, Walker's granddaughter

He was laid to rest, with full military honors, in a touching ceremony on Friday. A hero's homecoming decades in the making.

"No man left behind and they really stood behind that," Collingwood remarked.

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, as of May 2022, there were more than 72,000 Americans still missing from WWll.