LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Two sisters waited 60 years to find out how their brother was killed and on Wednesday the remains of Army Sgt. Pat Whitler were flown into Louisville. Sgt. Whitler was reported missing in action during the Korean War. Since then, his family has tried to figure out exactly what happened to him and now they not only brought him home, but got all of those answers.
Mary K. Mitchell never thought this day would come. She waited close by to the runway where the plane carrying her older brother’s remains would soon appear. Mitchell and her sister, Nancy, escorted by Fort Knox soldiers and a hearse, drove onto Louisville International Airport’s tarmac. Two fire trucks waited for them, an American flag flying above them. Her brother, Sgt. Pat Whitler is home after 60 years. Mitchell said “Once he comes off the plane, I'll feel like Nancy and I have done our job ‘cause we're the only two left.”
In 1950, Mitchell’s family was told her brother was missing in action during the Korean War and it was news she says her father couldn't handle. The same night that they got the notice, Mitchell’s father suffered a heart attack and died that night.
Through the years, not knowing what happened to her brother has haunted Mitchell. Family members at one point gave DNA samples to an organization that matches up soldiers’ remains to families. Mitchell was skeptical, but in June she got a call telling her it worked. Along with finding her brothers remains, she found out how he was killed after being taken hostage.
Mitchell explains that her brother and other men were captured, but when they were brought out to a field for execution, all the men refused, and Mitchell finds that part a bit touching. After decades of waiting the family finally got all their answers, and Mitchell's brother was home at last
Sgt. Whitlers remains were taken to Clover Port, Ky. His remains will be buried next to his father and mother’s remains Friday.
