FRIENDSHIP, N.Y. — More than 70 years after his death, Staff Sgt. Harold Kuhn is now laid to rest next to his parents, brother and aunt.
Family, the Friendship American Legion and Patriot Guard Riders attended a military graveside service Saturday afternoon for the 21-year-old Friendship man, who died in a plane crash while fighting in World War II and whose remains were recently identified by the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
“My thoughts were, ‘Grandma, he’s back with you,’” said Ruth Thompson of Bolivar, Kuhn’s niece and his only living relative to remember him, as she prepared to leave Mount Hope Cemetery in Friendship after the service. “Now he’s … where he should be — home again.”
Kuhn was born in Bradford, Pa., and killed Aug. 31, 1943, in modern-day Papua, New Guinea, when the B-24 bomber he was on crashed into a hill shortly after takeoff for a reconnaissance and pamphlet-dropping expedition.
The remains of Kuhn and Cpl. William Sadewasser, a 24-year-old Ulysses, Pa., man who died at the Chosin Reservoir while fighting in the Korean War, were both returned to their families Thursday morning at the Greater Rochester International Airport after spending decades unrecovered overseas and later in U.S. military laboratories awaiting identification. Sadewasser was also laid to rest Saturday at the Ulysses Cemetery.
Members of the Patriot Guard Riders escorted Kuhn’s hearse to the cemetery and stood watch with American flags during the service. The Friendship American Legion also stood by to honor their fallen comrade, while a couple dozen spectators watched the service from upon a hill.
Friendship American Legion member Bill Zacher, 76, said Kuhn never had a chance to live a full life after the service like legion members have, so they wanted to pay their respects.
“The tragic part of this is he wasn’t given a proper burial because it happened in New Guinea in 1943, and now in 2017 the young boy is finally home to rest,” he said. “It means an awful lot to see things done properly and done right.”
Zacher, who served in the United States Navy from 1962 to 1966, including two years in the Philippines, said he’s been to a lot of military funerals during his 52 years in the legion, but that every single one still “gets to” him.
“I’m so glad the boy is here and so glad for his family, too, that they get some closure on this finally,” he said.
Amanda Yeoman of Bolivar, Kuhn’s great-great niece, and Debra Payne of Traverse City, Mich., Kuhn’s great-niece, said the community support the last several days has meant a lot to the family.
“Two days this week they’ve dedicated their entire day to just volunteering to pay their respects,” Yeoman said of the Patriot Guard Riders, who also escorted Kuhn and Sadewasser from Rochester Thursday.
Friendship Central School students waved flags and held posters outside the school as Kuhn’s hearse and procession made its way to the Treusdell Funeral Home Thursday. Kuhn graduated from the school in 1940.
“I got very emotional when I saw all the kids,” Thompson said. “(Kuhn) would have loved it.”
Yeoman said the outpouring of support has made her proud to be from the area.
“A lot of times our communities get talked poorly about because there’s not a lot here,” she said. “There’s not a lot here financially, but there’s a lot here in way bigger ways.”
“He was a small town boy,” Payne added of her great-uncle, “and he came home to a small town.”
