EMPORIA, Kan. (KSNW) — The remains of an American soldier who was killed in action during the Normandy invasion during World War II have returned to Kansas.

Sgt. John O. Herrick of Emporia was assigned to the 149th Combat Engineer Battalion. On June 6, 1944, Sgt. Herrick was among 200 U.S. Coast Guard soldiers and 25 crew aboard a landing craft approaching Omaha Beach in Normandy on D-Day.

right Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the ship was hit by enemy mortars and shells before striking a mine, igniting the fuel in the forward troop compartment and instantly killing the men inside. The remains of the soldiers in the compartment were eventually recovered but could not be identified. They were buried as unknown in the Normandy American Cemetery. In 2021, the unidentified remains were transferred to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis.

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The lab was able to identify a set that belonged to Sgt. Herrick in August 2023. On Monday, Veteran’s Day, a special funeral service will be held for Sgt. Herrick in his hometown of Emporia.

Congressman Ed Rees of Emporia introduced the bill creating the Veteran’s Day holiday, which was signed into law by Kansan, World War II General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954. Sgt. Herrick himself was born on that day in 1924.

He was only 19 when he died. He will be buried at Maplewood Memorial Lawn Cemetery in Emporia.

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