Finally Home: Honoring Airmen lost in WWII
An Army honor guardsman hands off the American flag to the next of kin of 2nd Lt. Porter Pile and Master Gunnery Sgt. Jim Tripplet at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Oct. 31, 2023. During a funeral ceremony, after the flag is removed from the casket and folded, the flag is generally given to the most immediate next of kin family member of the deceased, and after that flag is handed off, it receives one final military salute. Pile and Triplett’s remains were not identified until 2022.