The remains of two World War II soldiers, missing for over 80 years, have been found. Private Harland Hennessey from New York and Private William E. Calkins from Oregon both died in 1942 after surviving the Bataan Death March and being held in a prison camp. Their remains will now be brought home.

According to CBS New York, Hennessey was part of the 803rd Engineer Battalion, Aviation, and perished in a Japanese prison camp. His mortal remains were interred in a camp cemetery and later moved to a U.S. military mausoleum in Manila, before resting unidentified at the Manila American Cemetery. A painstaking identification process by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) eventually gave Hennessey back his name.

On the West Coast, Pvt. William E. Calkins had an equally tragic end. His demise at Cabanatuan Prison Camp #1, resultant from the utter privation of war, was recently retold in a meticulous account by the The New York Times. Prior to his military service, he had convinced a friend to sign off on his enlistment as his guardian, suggesting he may have been younger than the deemed 20 years at his time of death.

These identifications are not just postscripts to history; they illustrate a continued resolve to honor the missing. This persistence is reflected in the sentiments of U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, who, according to a The New York Times statement, recognized DNA technology for enabling soldiers like Calkins to "be finally laid to rest." The scientific advances made in DNA and forensic analyses enable this ever-important mission of bringing soldiers home, years, if not generations, after hostilities have ceased.

The closure brought to the families of Hennessey and Calkins is, however, not available to thousands of others. As the American Battle Monuments Commission notes, there remain more than 78,985 American service members from WWII still unaccounted for.