HILLSIDE, Ill. (WLS) — It was a day the family of Marine Sergeant Robert Van Heck always hoped for, but struggled to believe would ever happen.
“We’ve been looking at that picture our whole lives. Now, we know he’s with his mom, and that’s huge,” said Marilyn Smith, Van Heck’s niece.
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The World War II soldier lost in battle more than 80 years ago finally returned home.
Tuesday’s inurnment service was held at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside and came more than a year after Van Heck’s remains were returned to his family last October.
During the ceremony, an urn containing the Marine’s cremated remains was placed into the family crypt, next to his mother.
“He was her only son. He was the only brother. He would have been the only uncle. It’s a big gap. There’s a big gap,” said Vivian Beekman, Van Heck’s niece.
According to the U.S. Military, the 25-year old Chicagoan was killed on the first day of a battle to secure a small island near the Gilbert Islands, held by the Japanese at the time, in November 1943.
He was among the 1,000 Marines and sailors who died that day.
Van Heck was buried among the unknowns at a national memorial cemetery in the Pacific as the family clung to a box of his keepsakes.
“There was the prayer by the bedside and the picture, and we never opened that box until a year and a half ago. It was just painful,” said Nancy Mazzocchetti, Van Heck’s niece.
In 2017, one set of the remains was disinterred for analysis, and scientists, through that analysis, were finally able to identify Van Heck’s remains.
“Our job, no, our obligation as Americans is to provide honors for the individual coming back,” said Wayne Kirkpatrick with Rolling Thunder Chapter #2 Illinois.
The family says they are so grateful for the closure that they received Tuesday, but all the other families that are still waiting for their loved ones to come home remain in their thoughts.
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