SAN ANTONIO -- An airman killed in the Vietnam War and listed as missing is finally home.
The remains of Airman First Class Jerry Mack Wall arrived in San Antonio Wednesday afternoon. He'll be buried at Fort Sam Houston, 46 years after his death.
Family members, friends, and veterans of the Vietnam war looked on as American Airlines flight 497 taxied through jets of water at San Antonio International Airport carrying Wall's remains. In May of 1966, the 25-year-old from Nacogdoches was on board a C-123b that was flying a flare drop mission in South Vietnam. The aircraft was hit by ground fire and crashed. This past August, investigators with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command excavated the crash site and found Wall's ID tag and his remains.
"It's heart-wrenching to watch somebody that has been missing for so long to have finally been brought home," said Rebecca Cooper, who was a passenger on board the flight from Dallas.
Cooper said everyone on the plane was deeply touched by the memorial.
"There are so many soldiers that we have lost," Cooper told us. "It makes you really think about how short life is and how precious it is."
