The remains of a North Monmouth man shot down in World War II have come home.

Sixty-three years after Army Air Forces Staff Sergeant Glendon E. Harris was shot down over New Guinea in World War II, the military has identified his remains. For decades, the remains lay at the site until uncovered in 1999. Now they have been returned to his family.

One nephew and two nieces represented the Harris family last week, when military officials honored the living and dead with a patriotic, spare-no-expense ceremony, culminating with a burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

"It was very touching," said Larry Roberts, 68, of Winthrop, who flew to Washington with his wife, Carol. "The Army went all out for us."

He had last seen his uncle when the senior Harris came home for a weekend. Larry was then 3 and can't remember the visit.

The Army used DNA from his mother, Eleanor Harris Roberts, and her brother Emory Harris, to positively identify the remains of their brother. That was several years ago, and neither of them lived to hear the results of the DNA match.

Still, Larry Roberts said he is grateful for the attention. He said a coffin carrying remains of Harris and three other men who were in the same B-25 bomber was taken by horse-drawn caisson to the national graveyard, accompanied by a 30-piece band, 30-soldier honor guard and a 21-gun salute. Two powerful jets flew overhead, for a few minutes closing busy Ronald Reagan International Airport.

The entire ceremony was "very moving, very emotional," said Carol Roberts.

Two of Larry Roberts cousins, Marie Fisher of East Winthrop and husband Dick Merrill, and Charlotte Powell and husband Mike of Connecticut, attended the ceremony. So did family members of the other three men recently identified.

Roberts, a surveyor and engineer, served nine years in the Air National Guard in Bangor. He said his family didn't talk much about Glendon Harris. After his mother died, he found a box with official letters notifying the family of Glendon Harris' death.

Glendon Harris died Oct. 24, 1943. He was a tail gunner on a B-25 bomber that was attacked by Japanese fighter planes over New Guinea and crashed. There were no survivors.

On May 19, the Roberts Funeral Home in Winthrop will hold visiting hours for Glendon Harris from 1-2 p.m., and a service at 2 p.m. The funeral home was operated by Larry Roberts' late father, Douglass, and late uncle, Carlton. Burial will follow at Glenside Cemetery, and Gov. John Baldacci and Maine Army National Guard Adj. Gen. John Libby, state commissioner of the Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management, are expected to attend.