After 62 Years, Family To Bury MIA Soldier

Sunday, May 7th 2006, 5:48 pm

By: News On 6

AMARILLO, Texas (AP) _ A World War II soldier last seen by members of his family at a northwestern Oklahoma train station more than 60 years ago are finally getting to bury him this week.

Army Air Corps Corporal John Hanlon boarded the train in Shattuck during the winter of 1944 after a short leave. A few weeks later, the C-46 transport plane in which he was riding crashed into a mountainside in a steep Himalayan gorge while running supplies from India to China.

Chinese government authorities found the plane's wreckage in 2002. Two years later, American military investigators recovered the remains of four of the plane's crew members. DNA testing indicated one set of remains was that of Hanlon.

His sister, Cathryn Hanlon Brown, now lives in the Texas Panhandle. She and four siblings will join other family members Tuesday when Hanlon is buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.