MEDINA, Ohio, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- The family of a U.S. Marine killed in Vietnam more than 40 years ago is planning his funeral.
Samuel Hewitt, only 19 when he was declared missing in action in 1966, is to be buried Nov. 19 in the Ohio Western Reserve Military Cemetery in Rittman, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Hewitt's remains were found near Da Nang earlier this year and identified this month from his dental records.
His mother, Hilda Hewitt-Fromherz, 87, of Medina, Ohio, told the newspaper she has mixed feelings. Her son was listed as killed in action in 1975.
"I think as long as you don't know, you have a glimmer of hope. So now we know. This is the end," Hewitt-Fromherz said. "I prayed many times that this would be resolved in my lifetime. So in a sense, this is like an answer to my prayers."
Hewitt grew up in Koontz Lake, Ind., near South Bend. He enlisted in the Marines after high school, inspired by a recruiter. His mother remembers him as a boy who was both serious and "happy go lucky" and his sister Paula remembers him as a kind boy with a "good streak of imp."
