The remains of a soldier have returned home to Western New York nearly 70 years after he went missing during the Korean War.

Sergeant Gerald Bernard Raeymacker, a Dunkirk native, went missing in 1950. Thursday was a day that his family has been praying for for years.

Fellow veterans honored their brother with a procession from the plane, with family following.

Raeymaker’s two sisters, brother, nieces and other relatives were present. Some had to travel from other states, but said they wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Raeymacker was 18 when he enlisted, and his siblings still remember the day a telegram arrived at their house.

But it was this past August 9 that the family got a call, and was told he would be coming home.

“I just got on my knees and I said ‘mom he’s coming,’” said Kareen Simmons, Raeymacker’s sister. “Thank you, thank you Lord, that’s all I said. I prayed every day, I’ve prayed every day for him, I just can’t express it. I can’t express what a wonderful feeling it is to have him here with my mother it’s all we wanted. My sister, I haven’t seen her in a long time so it’s a wonderful time in our life nothing can replace it. Never.”

North Korea returned 55 cases containing the remains of US service members in July 2018, following President Trump’s summit with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un. Since then, the military has worked to identify them.

Raeymaker will be laid to rest on Saturday in Dunkirk, next to his mother.