It took 74 years. On Monday at DFW National Cemetery, the family of a native Texan and WWII soldier finally got to say their goodbyes.
Last week, we introduced you to Judith Bingham, 78, who from her home in Fredericksburg, Texas told us about the older brother who left for war in 1944 and never came home.
Army Pvt. Kenneth Dayle Farris was 19-years-old when he left the family home in Dodson in the Texas panhandle. Judith was four-years-old when he left. She was six-years-old when he was declared missing in action in Germany.
"74 years," she remarked at the extreme passage of time since her brother left Texas. "I was determined to find him, and I couldn't believe it I just couldn't believe it."
Dayle Farris disappeared during the battle of the Hurtgen Forest in Germany in World War II. Their distraught mother lived out the rest of her days not knowing what happened or where his body might be.
"Every time she talked about Dale, she cried. Every time. It hurt. And I hated seeing her hurt. I was going to find Dayle and find out where he was. I said I'd do it and I never forgot I told her I'd do it," she said.
Despite years of searching and even traveling to the forest where Dayle was last seen, Judith Bingham found no trace of her big brother.
Just this past year, after being encouraged to submit familial DNA to a military database, it took modern technology to discover that Pvt. Kenneth Dayle Farris had been buried in Europe as an unknown back in 1946. His body had been disinterred and identification attempted numerous times over the years until a DNA match was found. He came home to Texas this past Friday on a flight to DFW Airport after experts matched his little sister's and other family members' DNA. She'd kept her promise after all.
"It's the most thrilling moment of my life," she told us.
And Monday at DFW National Cemetery, they honored him as a hero and celebrated that what was once lost is now found.
"Lord, thank you for the short, wonderful life of Dayle Farris," prayed a pastor from his hometown of Dodson. "Today we know where Dayle is. He ain't lost. And we're gonna see him again."
Last week, Judith Bingham told us this was the moment she'd been praying for her entire life.
"It's been a long time but we did find him and we did bring him home," she said.
In the United States, there are nearly 73,000 other families waiting for a day like this: families whose sons and soldiers never came home from World War II. So in her grief, a little sister, comparatively, considers herself fortunate.
"I am so thankful that we'll have a place where we know he is," she said.
Here, at rest at DFW National Cemetery with other heroes and, finally, home.