Yesterday Army Sergeant Christopher Vars, got the hero’s welcome he should have gotten many years ago in his hometown of Reading, MA.
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Dozens lined the streets to pay tribute to the remains of a man taken as a POW in North Korea in 1950 and listed as MIA until this year when new DNA evidence confirms that remains collected in 1990 from a North Korean concentration camp were indeed his.
Var’s niece Carol says: “My husband and I went to Providence, RI for one of those gatherings for MIA/POW’s and we learned so much about the DNA and at that point I had them sent to my brothers, Charlie and Arthur, the DNA kits.”
Vars also served in WWII. He will have a final military procession and funeral in October before he is laid to rest.
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More at Fox 25:
READING, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) — A late Army sergeant fought in two wars and now 65 years after he went missing in action, is finally able to return home.
Dozens of relatives, veterans, and complete strangers lined the streets of his hometown to salute and welcome home Army Sergeant Christopher Vars. It’s a homecoming he always deserved, but never got. SkyFOX flew over Logan Airport as Vars’ remains were flown in from Hawaii. The story of this reunion begins back in 1950 when Vars was taken as a prisoner of war while fighting in North Korea.
His remains were found this in a POW camp in the early 90’s. His family believes they can see him in a photo of the camp they found online, but it took 2 more decades for Vars to be identified. That entailed DNA testing of his remains and of his nephews, who were eventually determined to be a perfect DNA match.
