Soldier missing from Korean War identified, returned to Texas

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A U.S. soldier missing from the Korean War has been identified and returned to Texas.

The remains of Army Sgt. Billy J. Williams arrived at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Saturday. Water cannons and salutes honored the veteran, who died in a North Korean prisoner of war camp in 1951.

Scientists used DNA to identify his remains.

Many of his family members never knew for sure what happened to him during the war, bit his niece is grateful to the military for finally getting him home.

"I was overwhelmed because as a child I remember my Dad periodically would say, 'There's gonna be a knock on the door and we're going to go to the door and Billy Joe is gonna be standing there,'" Nancy Williams Motal, Sgt. Williams' niece, told Eyewitness News.

"Today that knock was, I could hear that knock. He did get to come home."

Sgt. Williams will be buried in his hometown of Madisonville next Wednesday with full military honors.