The family of a Mammoth Cave native killed while held as a prisoner of war in World War II is inviting the public to help welcome him home as he is laid to rest.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says Private First Class Thomas “Frank” Brooks died at the age of 23 while being held in the Cabanatuan POW Camp in the Philippines in December of 1942. His remains were unable to be identified after the war, but in June of this year Brooks was identified at a DPAA laboratory.
Brooks will be laid to rest in the Hill Grove Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery in Mammoth Cave on October 1, but Brooks’s great-great nephew Jacob Dunn says anybody wanting to pay respects will have an opportunity Thursday evening.
Brooks’s remains are scheduled to arrive at the Louisville airport at 5:30 p.m.
“Following the ceremony at the airport, we’re going to be driving in a procession from the airport down 31W from Louisville, coming through West Point, Muldraugh, Fort Knox, Radcliff, dipping into Elizabethtown a little bit, all the way down to Joe Prather Highway, then we’re going to take that to I-65 South, and that we’re going to take that the remainder of the way towards the Mammoth Cave, Edmonson County area where he’s from,” Dunn said.
The family is asking anybody in the public willing to participate to line the highways as the procession rolls through.
“Anybody that would love to come out in support, wave flags, please,” Dunn said. “It’s a somber moment, but in a way a celebration that he’s coming home, and he’s been identified, and this story can be put to rest.”
The Patton Funeral Home says a welcome home ceremony will be held Friday at 9:30 a.m. CDT at Edmonson County High School, with military graveside services beginning Sunday at 11 a.m. CDT in the cemetery.
(Photo Credit: Patton Funeral Home)
