Tompkins County lowered its flags to half-staff Saturday in honor of U.S. Army Sgt. Michael James Barra, the Korean War veteran and Ithaca native whose remains were laid to rest this weekend.
Barra was an Ithaca native who went on to serve as an engineer in the 2nd infantry division. He was captured by Chinese forces and held in a North Korean POW camp, where he later died.
The remains of Barra were identified through DNA samples submitted by his sister and his brother.
Rev. Joseph Marcoux led a service at Immaculate Conception Church in Ithaca Saturday.
“You literally brought him home,” Marcoux told Sue Shanahan, Barra’s sister, who submitted a DNA sample to help identify her brother.
Captain Brendon Hischar with the 2nd engineer battalion volunteered to take part in the ceremony honoring Sgt. Barra.
“It’s important that we’re still recognizing this soldier 64 years later,” Hischar said. “There were a lot of hands that worked to bring him home, and I think it shows our commitment as an army and as a country to returning our veterans even after more than six decades have passed.”
Barra was buried with full military honors at Calvary Cemetery in Ithaca.
