Decades after death in WWII, a son of New Orleans comes home

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — More than seven decades after being killed during World War II, Pvt. Earl Joseph Keating finally came home to his native New Orleans after his remains were discovered on the Pacific island where he died in 1942.

The private died at a place that came to be known as the Huggins Roadblock on the island of New Guinea just north of Australia — part of the bloody campaign to defeat the Japanese in the Pacific theater.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency investigates reports of service members missing in action from Vietnam, World War II, the Korean War and other conflicts.

The remains were met at the airport by family and a U.S. military honor guard and transported to the funeral home where an opera singer sang "Amazing Grace."

During the May 28 funeral services, Keating plans to read a letter written by his father to Pvt. Keating; it was never read by the young soldier because he died before it arrived.

After the funeral service, the soldier's remains will be driven by the city's World War II museum where the American flag will be lowered to half-staff and taps sounded before the procession continues to the cemetery.