WWII Marine Finally Identified, Buried In Michigan

ROSS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — An 18-year-old Marine private from Detroit who was killed in Okinawa, Japan, during World War II has been buried at Fort Custer National Cemetery in western Michigan.

A ceremony with full military honors took place Monday morning for Robert McConachie at Fort Custer National Cemetery. It's west of Battle Creek in Kalamazoo County's Ross Township.

Developments in testing using mitochondrial DNA recently helped the Pentagon identify McConachie's remains.

He was killed in action in June 14, 1945, during heavy fighting on Kunishi Ridge, and his as-yet-unidentified remains were brought in 1987 to the Army's Central Identification Laboratory at Hawaii's Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

The 17-year-old Detroiter joined the Marines in 1944, and James McConachie had to sign a waiver for his son because of his age.

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