Remains of Tuskegee Airman identified nearly 74 years later

SOUTH ORANGE, New Jersey -- It was a homecoming more than 74 years in the making. A New Jersey woman ran through a range of emotions when she found out that her father's remains have been found and he is coming home for his burial.

Marla Lawrence Dixon Andrews, 76, was only 15 months old when her father's plane went down.

Captain Lawrence Dixon was a brave pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen. Because of their skin color, the Tuskegee Airmen could not stand alongside the white pilots.

December 23, 1944, while on a recon mission, Dixon's plane went down. He was only 24 years old. The telegram sent to her mother indicated he may have gone down in Italy, where his base was located.

Young Marla was too little to have personal memories of her beloved father. She would come to spend a lifetime missing the man she never got to know.

Then came the stunning call on Friday that DNA confirmed her father's remains had been located. They found him and parts of his plane in Austria.

"I was very relieved because it just felt like the weight on my back... I think they closed down the whole case in 1948. I think because they didn't dream either that the DNA could ever evolve into what it has," Marla said.