This Illinois soldier went missing in 1944. His body is finally coming home.

Michael Aiello will be buried near his family in Springfield on Oct. 28, some 70-plus years after the man was first laid to rest in Belgium.

The Army staff sergeant died at age 35, in a forest in the Netherlands during the ill-fated Operation Market Garden. The military maneuver to capture several bridges was memorialized in the 1977 movie “A Bridge Too Far,” starring Sean Connery.

The State Journal-Register interviewed remaining members of Aiello’s family; the man was not married and did not have children.

He went missing on Sept. 30, 1944, days after his glider unit was ordered to the Netherlands woods. The Army declared him dead Oct. 1, 1945.

Camp Butler National Cemetery, where Aiello will be interred, will have a public ceremony at 10 a.m. Oct. 28.

This story was originally published October 9, 2017 at 2:30 PM with the headline "This Illinois soldier went missing in 1944. His body is finally coming home.."