CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Ohio World War II veteran, Ward Raymond Thomas, was laid to rest in April in a traditional military service in Chillicothe.
The path to get to that moment was anything but traditional.
Thomas had been missing for more than 50 years.
In 1942, when Thomas was 24 years old, he joined the U.S. Army at Fort Hayes in Columbus and went to serve overseas in World War II.
He returned home three years later with a long list of accolades, including the Purple Heart, and was honorably discharged from service.
Years later in 1972, Thomas was being treated at the Chillicothe VA Medical Center when he disappeared.
His family searched for him, but for decades, what happened to Thomas would be a mystery, until his niece Carolyn Grandstaff got a phone call last year from investigators at the Ross County Coroner’s Office.
“He asked me if Ward Thomas was my uncle,” she said.
The investigator told her about a skull that had been discovered in the Scioto River near the Chillicothe Correctional Institute in 1996.
For years, the identity of the skull was a mystery, labeled John Doe, waiting at the coroner’s office for technology to catch up.
“In our minds, we had done everything we could, until there was technology that came along. It was a cold case,” said former Ross County Coroner Dr. John Gabis.
Decades later, Dr. Gabis’s successor, Dr. Ben Trotter sent the skull to the state BCI lab for testing.
“Technology finally caught up in a way that we could extract DNA from the bone,” Dr. Trotter said.
There, scientists extracted enough DNA from a tooth on the skull to look further into its identity.
It was the non-profit, DNA Doe Project, that used genetic genealogy to come up with the name Ward Thomas.
They tracked down his living relatives and Grandstaff’s DNA was a perfect match.
“Shock, pure shock. I wish my mom was alive and my sisters too to be a part of this because they missed their brother, they loved their brother a lot,” she said.
Grandstaff said Ward Thomas was one of 12 siblings. His siblings, wife and stepson have passed away.
For 52 years, the family held on to Thomas’ military medals, finally reuniting them with the soldier at a funeral organized by the Ross County Veterans Service Office.
“Just thankful that he could get this honor. It is wonderful, someone who went to war and fought for our freedoms, it is very important,” said Thomas’ niece, Debbie Riffle.
Lt. Col. Robert Leach organized the service and decided he was going to send off the American hero in the most honorable way possible.
He invited Thomas’ family, members of the coroner's office, the DNA Doe Project, local law enforcement and anyone who had a part in solving the more than 50-year mystery, even recruiting a local high school student to wear a replica of Thomas’ military uniform, complete with all of his awards, honors and medals.
“What I feel we did today was give a name and a face and a family to Ward Thomas, so now it is more than just an interesting story about science and identification of remains. Now we have laid a World War II decorated combat veteran to rest with his comrades,” Lt. Col. Leach said.
Thomas was laid to rest with fellow veterans at Greenlawn Cemetery in Chillicothe. The Ross County Veterans Service Office will place a flag at the site every Memorial Day.
The completed mission to identify a veteran offers hope for the more than 100 John and Jane Does in Ohio. Thomas’ case is one of the oldest to be solved through DNA at the BCI lab.
“When it was sent out it was a smaller amount of DNA than they’re used to for genealogy, and it was successful so just the technology over the last few years in the genealogy world has advanced and it’s going to keep advancing,” said BCI Criminal Intelligence Analyst Jennifer Lester.
Family members of missing persons are encouraged to submit their DNA for free through Project LINK.
To learn more about the project, and how it could help solve your family’s case, contact BCI at 855-BCI-OHIO or email LINK@OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov.