A long-awaited homecoming: Soldier's remains identified after eight decades

On Oct. 20, 1944, Private First Class (PFC) John A. Walko was killed in action in Aachen, Germany.

But that is not where his story ends. Nor is it where it begins.

John Walko was born on Nov. 8, 1923, one of seven children born to a coal mining immigrant family in Commodore. He was drafted into service for World War II at the age of 18, leaving behind his parents and siblings.

“My mother (Marcella “Sally” Gaydosh, nee Walko), was the youngest of the seven children,” Holly Gaydosh said. Gaydosh, of Twinsburg, Ohio, is Walko’s niece. “She was about 13 or 14 when he would have died.”