Welcome Home...

Merry Christmas. Thanks for your service.

A very belated welcome home soldier.May you rest in peace and your sacrifce not beforgotten

Those who fought and died in WW2 have been called the Greatest Generation.Each day, we lose more of these incredible men and women as they pass the portal into eternity.Already the last person in the world who fought WW1 died 4 Feb 2012, aged 110 years old.He was from Great Britain.The last one from America was 27 Feb 2011, age 110.

Soon enough, another day will dawn. When none breathe who can recall the horrors of this Second World War.No witnesses to testify about the Holocaust.Nor of the bloody birth of man's entrance into the atomic age. Of the untold young men who went to an early grave, sacrificing their gifts of youth, hope and promise, to protect others freedoms and liberties threatened by foes.

From the number who perished overseas, are those like SSGT Zoltan Dobovich.Known to have died, but their bodies not recovered for one reason or another. Other times, they go missing in action, their fates unknown.

It happens in every war.Their loved ones never get a body for a final resting spot. There is no measure of comfort nor peace, to honor their loved one who fell.Believing with all their hearts, they were helping to keep liberties and freedoms safe for their families and country back home. Perhaps believing, it wasn't such a difficult thing to die, if their families and buddies were protected in the end. If the world was safer because of their sacrifice.

For those who seek out to return these war soldiers, from another time, another era, when the world was in chaos,they perform a remarkable service and tremendous honor to both the living and the dead.Helping the dead to be remembered, who gave their all, to be returned, respected and placed where they may be revered.Patriots of freedom and liberty.Helping the living find peace, by reuniting a family member who has been long lost.Bringing their beloved son to a peaceful place.For a parent being separated from their child, even in death, can be such a terrible feeling.

This also reminds us, by remembering history and all those who helped do their part to protect the very freedoms we enjoy, we are showing our appreciation for what we have. Those who gave it to us, and being more aware of the actual human cost it has taken. If we don't do this, heaven help us if we lose them, the cost to regain them fall upon ourselves.Remember, the Great War, was to end all wars. Then World War 2 happened to the next generation.

Thanks. Great post.

Amen. Welcome home Staff Sgt and Thank You. We remember...

Windancersong .... My mom, who was a teenager during WW II, wept when she read your wonderful words.

I was sitting along side of her, and although I was born later, the beauty of your words, and the profound wisdom you voiced gives me hope that we ... all of us ... can still empathize with a culture.. an era back in the day that is truly not as remote as the generations coming after mom and me may think. And, yes, my tears are there, too, for the beauty and respect that your words have offered to us.

Perhaps this can surely make us aware that... "He who does not study the past, is doomed to repeat it." (George Santayana, Spanish-American scholar and philosopher)

The most profound lessons of life can, I believe, only be learned with the heart. Thank you Windancersong, for touching the heart of my family's. And heartfelt gratitude to Staff Sgt Zoltan Dobovich as we welcome him home.

Windancersong.... What a beautiful tribute to this brave soldier and to all who served in that great war. I truly hope the family of this man reads your comment. Somehow your words might make his sacrifce for his country worth the loss. My dad, who is now 92 served in the army through 5 major battle campaigns in Europe and was one of the lucky ones to return home. There is no greater tribute that could have been said than with your words. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. God bless you and Staff Sgt Zoltan Dobovich.

Welcome home, SSG Zoltan Dobovich. May you rest in peace. Your comrades welcome you to the resting place of many honored men and women. And many more comrades welcome you to the gathering of honored men and women.

Windancersong Tremendous words, exquisitely stated.

i have to agree.I would rather be Infantry grunt on the ground than flying an aircraft with everybody and his brother and uncle shooting at you.

Why did it take this long to return remains when the body was recovered and identified in 1983? Just asking. Very confusing article. Lot of info missing. they say they are still finding remains of the German Sixth army in the old city of Stalingrad. The entire city is a historic battlefield and war momentos are protected.

Very well said. The internet is so interesting. In that, I can sit here and look and read about a man that lived and died before I was born. But reading this story has an impact on me. Here's to you Mr. Zoltan Dobovich. Almost 70 yrs. in the future and I'm having a cocktail in you honor.

Unless that was one of your missing relatives from WWII.

He gave his life to make things good for you. You owe him (though you may not be capable of understanding why)

1. These were Italians who recovered and identified his remains. I am thankful they showed respect for an American serviceman despite being allied with the Nazis during that war.

2. HONOR. He gave his life and to disregard him after he gave EVERYTHING he had to his country, including any future chances for happiness or a family of his own, is an intolerable and outrageous insult to his sacrifice.

3. If we cannot respect the young people who died for their oath of service, then what message does that send to our enemies, our allies and the people who dedicate themselves to keeping their own faith to their oath of service?

I'd rather hang myself in shame than be the person who made the decision not to pay these dues.

well said Chris,too many people these days have forgotten what it took then to make them free today.

So how does carting his remains around honor him or do anything for him? He does not exist anymore. If you want to honor him then put up a statue of him or a plaque that describes his life and service. The whole way we treat the dead in this world is, quite frankly, disturbing. I watched a documentary about embalming, it's freakin' DISGUSTING what we do, talk about indignities on a dead body! Dead bodies are medical waste, period. And what, exactly, is left of a dead body after 66 years?

Dem bones.

Warren,

The US has an obligation to return to home all missing military men. They went to fight for this country and it is the least this country could do no matter how long it takes.

As for the innocence project I do believe it should be done nation wide. DNA should be taken from all those incarcerated. BUT, if any time or money is wasted due to someone behind bars lieing about their innocence then they should be given life on top of their original sentence. That should be incentive enough.

This gentleman gave his life for his country. I am not a vet but have friends who are and would gladly give my life for either of these two wonderful women. Have some respect for someone who made the ultimate sacrifice for the rest of us. For Gods Sake.... to refer to him as "dem bones"...

How disrespectful. How mindless.

warrrrrrrrren,

It's not like the dna testing on these remains resulted in denial of testing for a criminal case. The criminal forensics will either be conducted or not, but this case of military testing would have no effect on any other.

One thing that puzzles me - article says the B-17 crashed in the French Alps, but the recent recoveries were associated with the Italian military. Is the Italian military operating in France? Or was this crash site perhaps in the Italian Alps?

Even better, the money used to Id. and transport plus the cost of a funeral could be better spent on living vets who need the help.

i'm just glad that you dont make those calls.with all respact and honor to truly the greatest generation that are country has ever seen.your comments are offensive to say the least.i dont think you have any appreciation no matter how little of this warrior was found r.i.p. brother and thank you

wlock,It seems that debating with warren is a waste of time.He will never respect those who were called upon to protect the very freedoms that he is using right now.He has no chance of understanding something for which he has never had to fight for.

But we still think of others when they're dead! Oh, when people are dead suddenly everyone is nice to them and supportive of them. We prop up their dead bodies to make them look good, cart them around singing praises to them for days. If only we could show to our fellow humans, a small fraction of the respect and concern we have for dead people.

To leroy brown... sorry, but I find your "comments" (if they can be called that) gross. You should obey your own advice because you, yourself, are not displaying even a nano-fraction "of the respect and concern we have for dead people."

You state an opinion in a context that comes across not just to me, but to others here... a context embodying a disrespect for an American solider who died for you, literally. You want us who are living to show "respect and concern" for all who are alive here now? Well, leroy, you first.

Well, perhaps my opinion as I spill it out is not persuasive either, for that matter. But but I am ticked off and shooting back what I think you shot at us, or worse, the solider finally brought home where, I can assure you, love greets him.

Have you ever heard of the word "closure" as relates to survivors who care for a lost one? This, in its way, is what many of us here feel when we've survived devastation and in many of us, the guilts that sometimes remain that it was he, not us, who lost his life.

Closure is how some of us deal with guilt for another's death... not literally, but it's there none the less. By honoring this young man, we do go on, and remember the standards he fought for.

If you have no empathy for a soldier who died for you, then your crusade that the rest of us should overlook him and look to ourselves ... this loses that particular argument big time, for me, at least.

Is honoring a young soldier who gave up his life such a difficult task for you?

Amen Michael. Indeed.

Your post makes me think you believe that an active duty soldier, walking along a street when a house suddenly collapses and kills him, should be left where he fell, as his final resting place.

Cemeteries are filled with people who were purposely buried there by families with no expectation that the body would ever be disturbed. They have every right to be up in arms at desecration for base purposes.

America has long had the policy of bringing its fallen soldiers home to their families so they could make the decision as to final resting place. Plane crashes where the bodies are not recovered/identified right away, are not in their final resting place until their family says so.

Those identified fallen WW I American soldiers buried in Flanders Field remain in France because their families chose to leave them in that lovely spot, knowing that their loved ones' burial place would be lovingly and respectfully tended long after the family was dust.

Well said Sue ! All soldiers want to come home during vietnam I dragged two of my brothers back so they could go home, Those who fight and die deserve to go home and I see your heart is filled with kindness and me and my brothers thank you for your kindness...............

Sorry. Flanders Field is in Belgium, not France.