WWII Vet Found, Honored 60 Years After Death

By Dan Rubin, KSEE24 News

October 23, 2012 Updated Oct 23, 2012 at 6:56 PM PDT

A WWII veteran is given a proper burial 60 years after his death. A long lost family member feels closer to a war hero she never knew.

Harold Cochran served three years as a Merchant Marine. His missions were often top secret and he was not allowed contact with his family.

He was honorably discharged after three years, but by then he'd lost touch. Cochran died in Merced County in 1953.

He never had children of his own, but his great niece never gave up finding him. An old letter pointed her towards California.

Norma Head eventually tracked Cochran to Merced. He'd been buried in an un-marked grave.

On Tuesday, an honor guard transferred Cochran's remains to a national cemetery. Head said "I love him. I wasn't even born when he died, and so to know that i've come to know him; he was real to me."

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