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PEORIA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — An Arizona soldier whose stays had been unidentified for greater than 70 years will now be laid to relaxation in Tucson. However the best way his household discovered was unconventional and heartwarming, making Tuesday surprising in one of the best ways.
For many years, Felix Padilla knew his cousin was killed within the Korean Struggle, however his stays had been by no means discovered and recognized. So, there was a flood of feelings when Felix was watching our newscast Monday morning and noticed a well-recognized image that made his coronary heart skip a beat.
Household first: now and at all times. That’s how Felix Padilla has at all times lived his life. However there’s been any individual lacking. “The image I’ve of my cousin my mother gave me. I at all times saved it,” stated Padilla.
Seventy-two years in the past, in 1950, his 19-year-old cousin was killed within the Korean Struggle. His physique was not recovered for a while, and his stays had been by no means recognized. However Padilla held tight to that image, anticipating that’s all he would ever have.
That each one modified Monday morning whereas he watched the information on Arizona’s Household. “I had goosebumps on my arms, and I stated, ‘That’s my cousin!” Padilla stated.
By way of dental information and DNA know-how, his cousin was lastly recognized. His stays have been flown everywhere in the world, however now, he’ll correctly be laid to relaxation at residence on the South Garden Cemetery in Tucson. “Studying his bio, you understand, he acquired a Purple Coronary heart. Obtained so many awards,” Padilla stated. “It felt so good simply to study they discovered his stays in any case these years.”
It seems that Padilla is the one different member of their household to have served within the navy too, and their connection and bond goes even deeper than that. “I stated, ‘Why did you title me Felix?’ Nicely, as a result of that was my cousin’s title that bought killed in the course of the battle. And I stated, ‘What battle?’ I used to be a child. She stated in Korea,” Padilla recalled. “Actually, I believe my cousin was there defending me all this time in the course of the Vietnam Struggle.”
Personal Felix M. Yanez. The namesake for Felix Padilla. “Now we all know he’s secure; now we all know he can relaxation in peace and be with the household itself,” Padilla stated.
A sense of delight and honor for a household that’s now lastly full. “We used to say with the troopers: boots on the bottom, stand tall, stand straight, by no means quit. And you understand, he by no means gave up,” stated Padilla.
Felix Yanez’s burial is scheduled for Saturday, September third, in Tucson on the South Garden Cemetery. Padilla stated he plans to be there and is now grateful to have way more than only a image; he can now go to his cousin at his gravesite.
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