TOLEDO (WTOL) - It's a true homecoming for the holidays. After nearly 70 years of being missing in action, his family knowing nothing Army Private First Class Leo Duquette will return home to Toledo for a proper military burial.
"It was like putting a big puzzle together for many, many years," said his sister Ruth Tepper.
Their story is one of searching, hope and a little bit of luck.
It all started with a picture. Andrew Tepper saw his uncle in uniform and wondered about his role in the Korean War.
“It’s amazing after 60 plus years, you just don’t give up,” said Andrew.
Andrew heard the stories from his mother and aunt. He knew his uncle Leo Duquette dropped out of Waite High School early to enlist in the Army at just 17 years old.
He learned that Leo he left to fight in South Korea at just 19 and went missing in action just a month into the start of Korean War. His mom and aunt would learn Leo was missing in action and may be a prisoner of war in July of 1950.
“There wasn’t the information that you have now where things can be transferred more rapidly to you,” said Ruth Tepper, Leo’s younger sister. “You just were at the mercy of what the military service could tell you and you had to accept that.”
With little information, Leo Duquette was declared dead in December of 1953 and in January of 1956 his remains were declared non-recoverable. But that picture spoke to Tepper and eventually led to hope, hope they could find and identify Leo’s remains after nearly 70 years MIA.
“I walked in not knowing and I walked out with something,” said Andrew. “There might be a possibility, I had a really good feeling.”
It was at a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) conference in Dearborn that Andrew went to on a whim and met a historian specifically studying his uncle’s unit for another family by chance.
Andrew discovered in October of 1950 164 Americans were found near Choch’iwon, South Korea near where they faced battle. One set of remains known as X-132 were unidentifiable and were buried at the United Nations Military Cemetery Taejon.
The military would attempt to connect X-132 with a U.S. Soldier for several years and when that wasn’t achieved, they declared the remains unidentifiable and relocated them to be buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, the Punchbowl in Honolulu marked as unknown.
The historian Andrew met worked to disinter remains at the Punchbowl, one of those X-132, in October of 2017. The remains were taken for analysis and through DNA, dental, anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis the DPAA and Armed Forces Medical Examiner System were able to match X-132 to Army Private First Class Leo J. Duquette, 19, of Toledo.
“The amount of information that was thrown on us it was just, I couldn’t believe it,” said Andrew.
Mary Lou Gargac, Leo’s younger sister, got a call several years back for DNA to see if it matched a soldier. While it was false, they assured her they would keep trying.
In August of 2018 she got another call. This time they told her after 68 years they had identified her older brother’s remains and he would finally get to come home.
“My legs just got numb and I just shook,” recalled Mary Lou Gargac, Leo’s sister. “And she says ‘are you there alone’ I said no and she said ‘are you okay’ and I said yes I just, then I started crying."
”We’re going to bring him home and honor him,” said Ruth Tepper. “It’s something I thought we’d never have this opportunity, never."
With pride they remember Leo and honor his service, now and forever.
“I always kind of wondered what would happen if he didn’t die in that battle,” said Andrew. “I’m proud that he served and proud that we were able to bring him home.”
Leo’s whole family is looking forward to a visitation and full military funeral in about two weeks.
They say the military is constantly working to identify other unknown soldiers. They truly believe it’s possible for other families to have the same closure they have now after so many years of uncertainty.
They encourage you to never forget about those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, because you never know what answers may be waiting on the other side.
Andrew says some great resources for them were the DPAA, the Korean War Project , the Coalition of families of Korean & Cold War POW/MIAs , and the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation.
