CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — A Korean War veteran is finally home in Michigan, nearly 70 years after he was reported missing in action while fighting overseas.
The remains of Sgt. David Feriend were flown to Gerald R. Ford International Airport Friday night, where his family stood on the runway and watched a military honor guard carry his casket off the plane.
After decades of waiting and wondering,Feriend’s sister cried as the remains of her once missing brother were brought home.
“It’s been too long,” his sister Irene Arbogast, of Spring Lake, told News 8. “It was very emotional.”
Feriend was reported missing in action in December 1950, but his remains were identified just last year.
The homecoming drew a crowd at the airport, dozens of people stood in the wind and rain to pay tribute to the fallen soldier.
“It’s a very humbling experience,” Mike Holmes, president of a local Rolling Thunder chapter said. “Some of us cry, some of us stand tall and tough, but in our hearts, we’re all crying.”
Fellow Korean War veteran Chester Simons was overcome with emotion seeing one of his own returns home after all these years.
“Every time I go to a military funeral I go home and cry, I could cry right now,” Simons said. “[He’s] home where he belongs.”
Patriot Riders and the Michigan State Police escorted Feriend’s remains to a Traverse City-area funeral home, where a service will be held Sunday.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has ordered flags to fly at half-staff on Sunday in honor of Feriend’s funeral.
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