SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY (WRGB) — For 80 years, a Troy airman who died as a prisoner of war during World War II remained unnamed and far from home. Now, with his remains identified in 2025, U.S. Army Air Corps 2nd Lt. Joseph Burke is finally returning to the Capital Region — a homecoming his family has waited generations to see.
“He’s been in mass graves and unmarked graves, and now he’s in a marked grave with honor,” said John Burke, the lieutenant’s nephew.
Burke, a Troy native, was killed in a Japanese prison during World War II. His nephews, Bill Comiskey and John Burke, said he attended what is now Siena University and learned to fly at Albany Airport through the federal Civilian Pilot Training Program…