Teary Homecoming for a Vietnam MIA

Heavy rain mixed with tears as 200 people turned out in Webster, N.H., for the homecoming funeral of a GI missing in action for 25 years. Air Force Sgt. William Roy Pearson’s helicopter was shot down in Vietnam in April 1972. A U.S.-Vietnamese team investigated the site of the crash in 1989, 1992 and 1994. Remains of six men were found during the last two searches, but it took several years to identify them. Nancy White, Pearson’s sister, said she hopes her brother’s return to his hometown encourages the families of other missing soldiers. “The timing was right because Billy got a reception that he never would have got before,” she said.