COLUMBUS -- Veterans, friends, and families gathered Wednesday to hold a decades-over-due funeral for John Paul "Jack" Langan, a World War II Marine veteran, at St. Joseph Cemetery. 

About noon on November 22 in 1943, during The Battle of Tarawa in the Pacific Theater of World War II on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbe, "Jack" was volunteering to take water to the militia who were pinned down. 

That's when he was hit by machine-gun fire and killed, his remains never found. That is, until decades later.

Nearly 70 years later, in 2009, a nonprofit began investigating five possible burial sites. Among 32 graves they found, one was the remains of Jack Langan.

"I'm the one who was on the ground when the remains were found, and then we send the remains back to Hawaii for DNA analysis," Windish said. Archaeologist Jordan Windish works for History Flight, a nonprofit that recovers fallen Missing in Action members.

"It's pretty much indescribable hearing about Jack when he was growing up from his siblings."

Langan's nephew wishes this day brings hope to families who are still waiting to bury or receive their family's remains.

 "Never did I think in our wildest dreams did I think he'd ever be found. It's a sadness and celebration at the same time," said his nephew John J. (Jack) Langan.