Army Staff Sgt. Zoltan Joseph Dobovich died with seven of his fellow soldiers in a plane crash in 1946, but only now -- after countless search expeditions and with the help of DNA testing -- is his family able to welcome him home and say a final goodbye.

Dobovich, a native of Allentown, Pa., was killed Nov. 1, 1946, when the B-17G Flying Fortress carrying him and the other soldiers crashed in the French-Italian Alps, PhillyBurbs.com reports. The wreckage was found the following year, but the process of braving the treacherous landscape to retrieve the remains of the soldiers continued for decades.

Even when remains were found, it has been difficult to identify them. But PhillyBurbs.com reports that advances in DNA technology helped confirm Dobovich's remains were among those retrieved from the crash site.