First Lt. James Gatlin was well known in his family for his service during World War II, even among relatives who had been born long after he was declared MIA in 1944. But the family, of which some members live in Plant City, began to get closure this morning when Gatlin’s remains finally arrived in Florida, their final resting place.
Gatlin’s remains were found during an excavation in Germany in 2013, and just recently identified using DNA tests. Relatives from all over the country, including Wyoming, Colorado and California, traveled to Plant City to greet the plane carrying Gatlin’s casket. Some family members were present who had submitted the matching DNA that identified Gatlin’s remains, such as his first cousin, Cornelia Howard, who had known him personally.
“He was a very integral part of the Gatlin family,” Howard said.
“It was real hard for my grandma when it happened,” Howard’s granddaughter, Amanda Rodriguez, said. “The plane went down on her birthday.”
The remains had been flown from a facility in Hawaii, to Los Angeles, to Atlanta, and arrived in Tampa the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 28. A procession then transported the casket to Hopewell Funeral Home, and burial will take place this weekend at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, beside the graves of Gatlin’s mother, father and siblings.