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Homecoming: Sgt. Hamilton's Long Journey

Family members receiving the flag from Vern Hamilton's funeral at the Monongahela Cemetery.
Courtesy
/
WQED
Family members receiving the flag from Vern Hamilton's funeral at the Monongahela Cemetery.

Wed. Nov. 10 at 8:30 p.m. on WKAR WORLD 23.2 & STREAMING | Decades after Sgt. Hamilton’s plane was shot down, an excavation and forensics team bring long-awaited closure to his family.

Sgt. Vernon Hamilton was a 19-year-old Army Air Corps engineer-gunner from Monongahela, Pennsylvania, whose plane was shot down over Germany during World War II.

Homecoming: Sgt. Hamilton's Long Journey follows the modern-day excavation team who recovered his 1943 Monongahela High School class ring in Reken, Germany in 2016, as well as the DNA scientists in Nebraska who were able to identify the Sergeant's remains.

WQED explores the diligent work of those researchers, and the poignant “welcome home” from the people of his small hometown.

This documentary also provides a unique window into the U.S. military's ongoing efforts to match recovered remains to missing service members.

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