ELMORE, Ohio — It's a homecoming over 80 years in the making.

The casket carrying the remains of Sgt. Howard Hasselkus arrived at 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport aboard a commercial flight. The honors for this hometown hero began soon after.

Passengers likely didn't know who was in the casket or how he died, but they waited patiently as it was carefully removed from the plane. A military escort accompanied Hasselkus from Dallas, the final leg of a journey that began in Hawaii.

But his story started long before that — in the Philippines during World War II.

Hasselkus served in the U.S. Army as a sergeant in the 192nd Tank Battalion . He was deployed to the Philippines. On April 9, 1942, he was taken prisoner along with other U.S. soldiers and Filipi

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