(WBBM NEWSRADIO) - A Chicagoan who gave his life for his country during World War II will receive a proper burial later this year, which would have been his 100th birthday.
Jeremiah P. Mahoney dropped out of St. Ignatius College Prep after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and enlisted in the army. He was killed in action 80 years ago this month.
His remains were never identified until recently.
Indiana resident Jerry Mannell is the nephew that Mahoney never met. He regrets not knowing more about his uncle.
“From the time he entered service, he spent 19 months in service before he was killed at the age of 19, so there wasn’t much history there,” Manell told WBBM.
Mahoney will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery sometime this year.
“All the people that knew him or grew up with him- my mother, my aunts and my uncle- unfortunately, they passed before they had this information,” Manell said. “To them, he was always unknown, and what happened to him was always a mystery, so, that we know is a sense of closure, but I feel a little bit more remorse for my aunt and mom and uncle who never knew and, certainly his mother, who never knew what happened to him.”
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