Even as a young boy, U.S. Army CW5 Gerald Carroll knew something was different about the grave of his great-uncle, U.S. Army Pfc. Thomas Franklin “Frank” Brooks.

“His grave was flat. It wasn’t mounded up,” Carroll said, speaking at Hill Grove Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery on Sunday morning. “What they told me was, ‘he went to war and he never come home.’ ”

This was true – “Uncle Frank,” as his relatives knew him, left his close-knit Mammoth Cave community at just 22 years old to fight in World War II, dying in 1942 as a Japanese prisoner of war in the Philippines.

He was never returned to Kentucky for a proper burial, a process that kicked into high gear in June when the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency finally identified the young man’s remains.

Carroll and the rest of the family, including Brooks’ 11 siblings, went without closure for more than 80 years. Their wait for their loved one ended on Sunday when Brooks was finally given a funeral on Edmonson County soil.

“Military terminology – you sort of try to steer from it when you can, but sometimes it’s appropriate,” Carroll said. “Mission accomplished in getting him home.”

Multiple tents were necessary to accommodate the hundreds of attendees who swarmed the tiny Hill Grove Missionary Baptist Church to watch the historic proceedings, an event that drew more veterans than one could shake a proverbial stick at.

Hundreds of American flags – planted by nonprofit The Flagman’s Mission Continues with the help of volunteers – lined Dickeys Mill Road, a route that bears a plaque in dedication of Brooks’ service.

Yellow ribbons peppered sign posts and front porches throughout the county and small “Uncle Frank” placards hung from mailboxes to welcome the native son back to his boyhood home.

“There’s generations that showed up that would know nothing about him, but for whatever reason they were inspired to be a part of this,” Carroll said about the packed funeral service. “And that not only moved me, but it’s moved this entire family.”

Carroll, standing mere feet from the flag-draped casket of his loved one, provided the crowd an emotionally charged retelling of Brooks’ life.

Brooks joined the Army in 1941, serving up the road at Fort Knox as a member of what became Company D of the 192nd Light Tank Battalion. He and his men were sent to fight in the Philippines late that year, staving off the Japanese invasion for several months in the Battle of Bataan.

“The Japanese planned to take the Philippines in 30 days. It took them four months because of men like Frank,” Carroll said.

Brooks and his companions were surrendered in April of 1942 after fighting to the point of starvation. Brooks himself had been wounded in the battle, and his stay in a field hospital spared him from the brutal Bataan Death March.

“I guess that was a little bit of good fortune, but not much,” Carroll said.

Brooks was then transferred to the Cabanatuan POW camp, where he survived until his death that December at the age of 23. He was buried in a common grave with eight other men who died in the same 24-hour period.

Five of the men in that grave were identified in 1945. Brooks was not one of them, and unbeknownst to his family, he was instead buried thousands of miles from home at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

Brooks’ sister Cardelia Sanders wrote a letter to the quartermaster general in 1948, desperately pleading for Brooks’ remains to come back to Edmonson County as her mother, Francis “Priddy” Brooks, wanted.

“She just wrote it to the Army. She didn’t know who to write it to,” Carroll said. “But the words she wrote were pretty powerful.”

Carroll learned of Brooks’ Manila grave when his great-uncle’s individual deceased personnel file was declassified in 2010.

With the blessing of Brooks’ sister Eula Thompson, who told him to “get him home if you can,” Carroll submitted samples of Thompson’s DNA in 2014 to aid in the identification process. Thanks to this effort, Brooks was finally accounted for 81 years after his death.

“Well Aunt Car, we got him home,” a misty-eyed Carroll said.

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Pete Scott Logsdon presented niece Zelda Foster with an American flag that had flown on the USS Bataan, the assault ship named after the battle in which Brooks so valiantly fought.

“I’ve heard about him all my life,” Foster told the Daily News. “I’ve told (Brooks’) story to numerous people, and every time I’ve told it I’ve had to stop and gather my emotions. Even though I never knew him, it means so much.”

Brooks’ nephews were then presented with his eight military medals, which included the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

Nephew Ray Brooks, who received his uncle’s Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, said the funeral meant everything to the family.

“He doesn’t need to be over there. He needs to be home,” he said.

Ray Brooks mentioned that Sunday’s event was originally drawn up as a small family gathering, but it was impossible to curb interest from fellow service members because “veterans take care of veterans.”

Proving his point was the presence of people like retired U.S. Air Force A1C Larry Waddle, who attended the ceremony despite having no familial tie to Brooks. Rather, he said the pair were “related through camaraderie.”

“We’re all brothers,” Waddle said.

Edwin Vincent, retired Air Force Chief Master Sgt. and commander of VFW Nesbit Alexander Memorial Post 6937, echoed Waddle’s sentiment. He said there’s a “piece of every veteran” inside all who serve.

“We pick up where they left off,” he said.

Brooks was honored with a three-volley salute and a rendition of Taps before the Kentucky Army National Guard Military Funeral Honors Team brought his casket to rest beside the grave of his mother and father, Charles Brooks.

A final roll call closed out the service, allowing Brooks’ full name to be sounded out one last time.

Carroll said it’ll take him a while to fully process the fact that “Uncle Frank” is back where he belongs.

“I’ll come up here, I’ll visit the grave and I’ll talk to him,” he said, pausing as a tear welled up in his eye. “Just like any death in your family, you eventually move on from it. But I’ll never move on completely.”