Mort Licari, the airman’s brother said, “There was the period in which we didn’t know what happened to him. All we know now is that he’s on his way back to us.”
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According to the Associated Press:
DNA samples provided by relatives matched those of Sgt. Dominick Licari, who was 31 when his A-20 Havoc bomber crashed into a mountain in Papua-New Guinea on March 13, 1944.
Mort Licari said he and several nieces and nephews plan to be at the Albany airport when a plane with a casket bearing his brother’s remains arrives Aug. 2. A military honor guard will carry the casket to a hearse, which will take the remains 70 miles west to Dominick Licari’s hometown of Frankfort, where a funeral and burial will be held Aug. 6.
Mort received the call just last week that his brother’s remains had been identified using his own DNA. He was driving at the time and he said, “I pulled over and kind of got myself together.” Licari will be buried alongside his parents and other siblings. Mort explained, “It was my father’s wish for all of us to be there. Now that will be complete. There won’t be any hollow spots in that ground.”