Remains of decorated Army soldier to be returned to local family 63 years after his death

(WXYZ) - The remains of a decorated Army soldier are being returned to a local family 63 years after his death.

"I didn't really know him," says Sue Prill of Shelby Township.

However, Prill remembers her mother talking about her uncle, Private First Class Ernest Fuquay Jr. He was killed in action in North Korea back in 1950. He was 20 years-old.

Prill says after her grandmother died, her mother practically raised Fuquay.

"She always talked about him and talked about raising him and how it was so sad that he died so young and he never came home," says Prill.

North Korea repatriated the remains of U.S. soldiers. DNA testing has now identified some of them as those of PFC Ernest Fuquay, Jr.

Prill received a call from the U.S Army recently and was asked what she wanted to do with them. At first she thought he should be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Then Prill thought of her mom and asked if he could be buried with her mom's remains in Rochester Hills. The U.S. Army said "whatever you want".

On Tuesday, Prill says the remains of PFC Ernest Fuquay, Jr. will be laid to rest in the same spot as her mom's final resting place. She says Christian Memorial Cemetery is taking care of all the costs. An Army representative says the burial will be done with full honors.

Even though Fuquay grew up in Tennessee, Prill says being buried next to her mother makes his final resting place feel like home.

"I knew she would want to be there with him," says Prill.