After decades, a final farewell was held Thursday for a Navy veteran.
- Mark Dennis died in 1966 when helicopter shot down
- Family had questions about his remains
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Mark Dennis was killed in Vietnam in 1966. He was 19 years old and was a medic who wanted to be a missionary.
Thursday's funeral at Garden Sanctuary Cemetery in Seminole came with full military honors.
"After 50 years, it's over," said his sister, Eileen Brady.
Dennis was killed when his helicopter was shot down. But for years, his family questioned if the remains they received were really his.
"I saw a picture in Newsweek of a prisoner in Vietnam who looked exactly like Mark," Brady said. "When the coffin came to us, we were advised not to open it and we didn't.
"But then we did, and the reason they told us not to open it, it wasn't identifiable."
Mark Dennis, killed in Vietnam, was remembered on Thursday.
The family spent a lot of years and money searching for answers regarding their brother's remains.
"It's had three DNA tests, one said it was not related to us," Brady said. "The other two said it was, so we're taking the odds of two-to-one it's Mark.”
Retired Marine Major Tom Siggins came to pay his respects. He said he was on the same mission that killed Dennis and was about a half mile away when a helicopter crashed.
"It turns over and the blades are facing us, facing me and my crew and it goes down behind a hill and then you can see a big explosion,” Siggins said. “So I think that's the one Mark was in."
"It’s time to let him rest and us, to take a deep breath and say God bless you, take care of him,” said another sister, Anne Moline.
Higgins added, “We’ve lost too many young kids like that. Too many.”
Moline said Dennis was her best friend and that she remembers him every day.
Mark Dennis