CHESTER, W.Va. — A soldier killed in World War II in Europe has finally been returned to his native Hancock County, West Virginia.
Services were held Friday in the community of Chester in the Northern Panhandle for First Lt. Richard Horrigan. Community members came out to greet the hearse which finally brought him home from the European Theater of Operations.
Horrigan was a pilot and was shot down over the Lonnewitz Airfield in German in April 1945. He was at the controls of a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter plane at the time of his demise.
The area was controlled after the war by the Soviet Union. His remains were finally positively
identified in 2019 and the process of sending them home began.
His remains arrived to a heroes welcome in his hometown on Friday and memorial services continue in the town of Chester today in his honor.