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Margaret Ranson and Ervin Beckman said their uncle, Robert Bockey, was a kind person who was glad to serve in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.

Bockey may have died while serving in battle in present-day North Korea in 1950, but the Weirton native was well-received upon finally making his way home. After being transported back to the city earlier this week, Bockey's remains were laid to rest at St. Paul Cemetery in Weirton on Friday.

A U.S. Army honor guard contingent from Fort Knox, Ky., carried Bockey's casket during the ceremony; it later provided a 21-gun salute.

Ranson, a Cross Lanes, W.Va., resident, said she had a good relationship with Bockey during their younger years.

"We were only four years apart. ... I was very close to my uncle," she said.

"He meant a lot to our family," Beckman, of New Martinsville, added.

At the state level, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin ordered all state and U.S. flags to be displayed at half-staff all day Friday in Bockey's honor.

Other organizations participating in the full-military honors funeral included American Legion posts from Weirton, Dillonvale, Brilliant, Toronto, Hopedale and Cadiz, as well as the Patriot Guard Riders from Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Also attending the funeral were Weirton natives Irene Canala and Florence Hirkala.

"He (Bockey) is finally at his final resting place," Canala said.

"My brother was killed in France in 1945, but his body was not brought home until 1948. ... I know what the family must have gone through," Hirkala added.

In the year 2000, a team of U.S. and North Korean officials excavated a site overlooking the Kuryong River to find the remains of five men, including Bockey.