NORWAY — More than 60 years after dying in service to the U.S. Air Force, a Norway World War II veteran is coming home.

His remains spent years in a swamp in the Philippines, and decades at a Midwestern cemetery. They were even shipped to Hawaii before finally being identified as those of 2nd Lt. Robert S. Emerson of Norway.

“He’s finally coming home to be with his mother and father,” said Patricia Beasley, of North Carolina, who, as Emerson’s niece, is one of the man’s closest living relatives.

“Now that it’s come to be, I’m just kind of overwhelmed,” Beasley said. “It’s been over 66 years. It’s amazing what they can do.”

Wartime tragedy

Emerson was one of five servicemen who were on board a B-25J Mitchell Bomber that crashed into Palawan Field, Philippines, on April 3, 1945.

Eyewitness reports from other pilots indicated that the plane had stalled out and crashed into a swampy area, killing all five airmen.

Emerson’s passing hit the family hard, Beasley said.

“He was the youngest child and he was the only one that was in the service,” she said. “To happen so close to the end of the war, it was sad. I know my grandparents, especially my grandmother, grieved forever.”

Beasley has only a couple of memories of her uncle, “Bobby,” who left to serve in the military when she was just 2 years old. When she was 5, she remembers that he visited the family in Maine, partly to unload a dog named Amos.

“That was probably the last time he was home,” she said.

Her memory of Emerson is faint.

“I remember the dog,” she says. “He lived forever.”

Barbara Casey of Brunswick, another niece of Emerson’s, was just an infant when Emerson died, and has no memories of him at all. She says that she would have liked to have known him better.

“I’m sure we would have been best buddies when the time came, but the old war jumped in,” she said. “I’m glad we’re doing something for him.”

Amazing journey

Emerson’s remains have made a long and remarkable journey on their way to the Norway Pine Grove cemetery.

The 66-year effort demonstrates the doggedness with which the U.S. Department of Defense has worked to ensure that the remains wind up in the proper place.

Remains from the crash site were originally recovered in 1947. They were buried as unknowns in Leyte, Philippines, and then exhumed and transferred to Manila. In 1949, they were sent to the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Mo., by a military review board.

In 1951, additional remains were recovered from the crash site, which sparked an effort to re-examine the existing remains to identify the individual airmen. The effort proved fruitless, and the remains, which had been exhumed for a second time were reburied in Missouri — this time, for 57 years.

At the time, says Beasley, the family had come to terms with the Midwestern burial site.

“I figured we were happy where he was, because my mother and stepfather had been out there to see the grave,” Beasley said. “My son had even been out there in the ’80s. He had a picture of the stone. We were happy with where he was.”

Beasley’s other sister, Nancy Rock of Vermont, remembers a tradition followed by her mother, Emerson’s sister.

“I know that she always sent flowers to Missouri at Memorial Day,” Rock said.

But Emerson’s remains didn’t stay in Missouri.

In 2001, a relative of one of Emerson’s fellow airmen heard about the additional remains that had been recovered in 1951. She led a seven-year-long effort that was successful in 2008, when the group remains were disinterred for a third time and transported again, this time to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command post in Hawaii.

At this point, the remains were subjected to cutting-edge forensic analysis tools that were not available in the 1950s.

One such tool was the matching of mitochondrial DNA with the DNA of living relatives of the airmen. By using these techniques, scientists were able to identify the remains of each individual for the first time.

As the effort to identify the remains got under way, members of Emerson’s family were contacted.

Sadly, Emerson’s sister had passed away just prior to the request for DNA.

Rock, her daughter, was still able to honor the request. Rock sent in a strand (with a follicle) of her mother’s hair to assist the DNA comparison efforts.

“The wonders of today’s technology, to be able to figure out who was who,” Rock said. “It’s tremendous.”

Rock also swabbed her own cheek for the DNA test that would eventually bring Emerson home.

The three sisters — Beasley, Rock, and Casey — are now making the trip to Norway to see their uncle finally laid to rest.

Counting the initial crash site, the July 9 service will mark the fifth time that Emerson’s remains will be buried. The burial is paid for by the Department of Defense.

Great potential

The details that remain of Emerson’s short life portray a bright and lively young man, full of potential to do great things in life.

He was the son of George Earl Emerson, who came to Norway from Tingwick, Quebec. The elder Emerson put in 15 years making snowshoes for WF Tubbs before establishing his own milk route in 1923.

Beasley remembers visiting Emerson’s parents — her grandparents — in Norway often throughout her childhood.

They owned Emerson’s Dairy on Emerson’s Road. She recalls the operation as a traditional, old-fashioned farm with large work animals and a shingle-making shed out back.

Charles Longley of the Norway Historical Society has one childhood memory of Robert Emerson. Emerson was the co-pilot on a military plane.

“He must have talked the pilot into circling above the town,” Longley said. “I remember it frightened the horses. Mr. Cummings was upset. I was a kid. I was excited to see the big plane.”

When he was a high school senior, Emerson’s classmates voted him the best looking boy in the class. For the imaginary senior class car, in which classmates are assigned different car parts, Emerson would have been one of the spark plugs, his peers decided.

He listed his hobby as “playing nickel machines,” which Longley speculates is a reference to pinball, and other similar games.

He was also heavily involved in school activities, including track, where it was noted that he tied for first place in an unspecified running event. Emerson was a member of the basketball team, the commercial club, the dramatic club, the graduation decoration committee, the senior booth committee, the graduation committee and the student council.

Emerson wrote that his future plans would be in the fields of accounting and finance.

Coming home

The graveside service will take place at the Pine Grove cemetery at 2 p.m. on July 9.

“There are five plots there,” Beasley said. “His parents were buried there with two brothers. There was never any question about where he would be buried.”

Rock travels to the area from Vermont twice every year to visit the graves of the Emersons and other family members. During the Christmas season, she brings wreaths. On Memorial Day, she brings fresh flowers and ensures that an American flag is on the site.

“I had promised my mom before she passed away that I would carry on the tradition,” Rock said.

The service, which family members expected would be for six or seven attendees, may turn out to be a larger event than was initially planned.

Beasley says that she’s been receiving calls from various organizations that would like to recognize Emerson for his service to the country.

“A lot of people are very patriotic these days,” Beasley said. “World War II is very big. It’s just a real big snowball, I think. It’s no telling where it might end.”

Ron Snow, the commander of Norway’s American Legion post, says that the burying of a World War II vet has a special significance for post members.

“In my post, I’ve got 22 World War II vets still alive. It’s important to them,” he said. “We’ve got Robert’s picture hanging on the wall down in our meeting room.”

Snow says that the Legion is organizing a memorial service before the burial, during which Emerson can be honored for his service. Members also plan to donate the use of the hall as a post-service gathering place.

Julie and Alden Emerson of Norway say that they expect a big turnout from the local branch of the family. Alden’s father was Robert Emerson’s cousin.

“Everyone’s excited about it,” Julie said.

She says that the result will be well worth the effort that has been put into recovering and identifying the remains.

“If it was your mom or your dad, you would want to respect their wishes,” she said. “He made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. Anyone who does that deserves respect, no matter how long ago the sacrifice was made.”

Julie says that the fact that Emerson died so close to the end of the war adds poignancy to the story. Germany surrendered to the Allied Forces just one month after Emerson died and the Pacific Theater, where Emerson was fighting, finally came to a close in August 1945. The war was officially over in September of that year.

Snow plans to announce the details of the service before the July 9 burial.

Beasley hopes that the addition of Emerson to the family plot might help to bring a little more peace to that small piece of ground.

“I hope they can communicate, and they know that he’s finally come home,” Beasley said.