History Flight instrumental in bringing Marine private from Houston home after 8 decades

PEARLAND, Texas (KTRK) -- After eight decades, a U.S. Marine from Houston was brought home for a proper burial after being killed during World War II.

ABC13 was the only one there when Pfc. John Wilson Hoffman Jr. took his final resting place with a 21-gun salute and taps years in the making.

Hoffman was killed in 1943 but wasn't identified until 2020. Another three years went by before he made it to South Park Funeral Home and Cemetery in Pearland.

"(It was) an amazing, fascinating journey to get to this day," Kirk Elliott, Hoffman's great-nephew, said.

Hoffman was born in Houston and attended Stephen F. Austin High School before enlisting in the Marines.

He died on the Pacific island of Tarawa during World War II when his battalion came under attack by the Japanese in a well-known, bloody battle that left more than 1,000 Marines dead.

Hoffman's homecoming started with a phone call from the Marines to his great-nephew.

"They informed us that they had located John Wilson Hoffman's remains on a teeny island in the Pacific Ocean, Tarawa, which is just a pinpoint on a map," Elliott said.

A nonprofit group, History Flight, worked to identify remains in the South Pacific for years, including Hoffman's. History Flight sent his remains to Hawaii for testing. Then, Hoffman's remains arrived in Houston two days ago, ahead of the interment.

"Years of research and archives on the back end, recovering through military records, deployment personnel records, files, and then getting on site and kind of narrowing it down. A lot of these burials were lost with time," Jessica Gadis with History Flight said.

"Just speaks volumes to this country's commitment to the fallen and our fallen brothers and sisters in the military," Marine veteran John Cassidy said.

Hoffman's family said his mom never gave up hope that he would be brought back stateside, even to the end. Her faith to buy him a plot without ever finding his remains paid off in this reverent, full-circle moment.

"We saw the letters that she wrote and the information she was trying to get before she passed, so I feel very humbled to be a part of burying him next to his parents," Debbie Elliott, Hoffman's great-niece, said.

Hoffman was only 21 years old when he was killed. History Flight has been to more than 15 countries, recovering and identifying more than 160 service members missing in action.

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