The remains of 2nd Lt. Joseph Leroy “Roy” Burke arrived at Albany Airport on Thursday, more than eight decades after the World War II airman went missing in the Pacific Theater.
Burke, a Troy native who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps, was among 432 unidentified prisoners of war buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. His remains were disinterred and identified in 2025 using DNA samples provided by his family.
A five-star honor guard conducted a dignified transfer of Burke’s remains upon arrival at the airport where he once trained as a pilot in a federal learn-to-fly program…