John A Walko died on October 20, 1944, when mortar fire ripped through American positions during the Battle of Aachen in Germany. His body was never accounted for. But this month, eight decades later, his remains finally made the journey home to Commodore, Pennsylvania, escorted by a veterans' motorcycle group and greeted by residents lining Main Street with flags.
Walko was a Private First Class whose remains had sat unidentified for nearly a century. American military gravediggers found an unknown set of remains at the US Military Cemetery in Henri-Chapelle, Netherlands, shortly after the war and catalogued them as "X-99 Henri-Chapelle." The condition of the body made visual identification impossible, even though military records showed it belonged to someone killed by mortar fire in Aachen that same day.
Three years ago, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency exhumed the remains and sent them to their laboratory for analysis. Scientists applied anthropological examination, material evidence review, and DNA testing. In July 2025, they confirmed the identity: X-99 Henri-Chapelle was Walko.
His sister, Sally Gaydosh, was 96 when she got the call. She had waited nearly 80 years wondering if her brother might somehow walk through the door. When the DPAA contacted the family in 2021 requesting DNA samples, Gaydosh thought the letter was a scam. But the family submitted samples anyway. The wait ended with a phone call.
"And we waited and we (thought), 'Oh, we're sure. We're sure they'll find him,'" Gaydosh told Cleveland.com.
As the hearse carrying Walko arrived in Commodore, firefighters unfurled an enormous American flag across a truck. Residents crowded the streets to pay respects. Walko was laid to rest alongside his parents and brother in the family plot.
The identification represents one of the latest successes in the ongoing effort to account for Americans lost in World War II. The DPAA announced the same week that another service member, Air Force 2nd Lieutenant Robert J Barrat, had been identified through DNA analysis. Barrat died in 1945 when his B-17G bomber collided with another aircraft during a bombing run over Lutzkendorf, Germany. Eight of the nine crew members died in the crash. After exhumation two years ago, Barrat was identified and is scheduled for burial at Arlington National Cemetery on May 27.
These identifications underscore how modern forensic science continues to bridge the gap between loss and closure, returning soldiers to families who never stopped waiting.
Author James Rodriguez: "Eighty years is a long time to hold onto hope, but these families never let go, and DNA finally made it real."
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