FARMINGTON HILLS (WWJ) - One phone call last week forever changed the life of one Farmington Hills resident who last heard about her father almost 80 years ago when he went Missing in Action overseas in France during World War II.
And now he is returning home.
"I never thought I would see the day," said Maryalyce Lupher to FOX 2, whose father, Army Private Alfred Ricke, was presumed to have been killed in battle while serving overseas in 1944.
Maryalyce was first contacted by officials working with the Department of Defense last week after she had provided a DNA sample to the Army in September of 2021.
They had found a match.
"I said, 'Excuse me, are you telling me they have located him?'" Maryalyce said to FOX 2. "And they said, 'Yes, we have matched his DNA, we have identified him.'"
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Private Ricke was only 29 years old when he stormed the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. According to military records, Ricke was last seen helping liberate a city in France two months after D-Day; he never returned to base for dinner.
The Army listed Ricke as Missing in Action and was later presumed dead. His daughter Maryalyce said the last bit of information the family received about her father was through a telegram 78 years ago.
Maryalyce told FOX 2 she was only four years old when she last saw her father. Decades later, she said the memory of him carry her younger sister around the house remains unclouded by time.
"On his shoulder going down the stairs, and I see that as clear as if it happened today," she said.
In the years since, 1st Sgt. Kris Babel — a casualty assistance NCO whose job it is to find soldiers who are Missing in Action — said Private Ricke's heroic and valorous deeds during WWII have been officially recognized by the Army, earning him the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
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Babel said it has been his mission to "solve mysteries," "provide closure to bloodlines" and reunite families with lost loved ones.
"They didn't go over there for nothing, we got them back and we're finally bringing them home," said Babel.
Now, almost eight decades later, Maryalyce and other surviving family members will finally have answers and get the chance to say goodbye.
"I love you and I miss you," Maryalyce said.
The family will lay Private Ricke to rest at the Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly.