CHEBOYGAN, Mich. (AP) — Fifty-seven years after his death in the Korean War, Billy MacLeod is coming home.

MacLeod's relatives in the Cheboygan area were notified this fall that the Army soldier's remains had been identified and would be returned. They plan to bury him in January.

The news "floored me," Bernie Potter, half brother of MacLeod, told the Cheboygan Daily Tribune.

MacLeod was killed at age 20 during the battles of Chosin Reservoir on Nov. 28, 1950. At first, he was listed as missing in action. But when a fellow soldier reported he had seen MacLeod die, his status was changed to killed in action.

The U.S. Army took DNA samples from Potter nearly a decade ago in case the opportunity arose to identify MacLeod's remains. The DNA needed to be from a male on the mother's side, Potter said.

The Army has recovered 98 percent of the skeletal remains, found in a trench with other soldiers, Potter said.

"The sad thing about this is that there were no remains when we were notified, and nothing was sent back home back then," said Potter, who was 9 at the time. "My mother had sent him letters, but he never got them. He sent letters that we got, but we got all the letters we sent to him back."

A cousin, Keith MacLeod of Cheboygan, recalled spending time with Billy MacLeod before he went into the service.

"He lived in town, and we lived in the country," Keith MacLeod said Tuesday. We got into town once in a while to see (him). He was a pretty good boy to hang around with."

MacLeod's remains are expected to arrive next month. After a ceremony with military honors, he will be buried near other family members at Pinehill Cemetery, where a grave and vault have been prepared.

Potter works at the cemetery.

"Every day I go to the grave where my mother, grandmother, uncles ... all my family is buried except my dad," he said. "I would say, 'Everyone is here but you, brother.'"