LAKE CITY — The remains of a Lake City man killed in 1942 while fighting on New Guinea during World War II have been positively identified, according to a Department of Defense agency.

Army Pfc. Merl W. Holm will be buried in his hometown on July 9, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Holm was 22 when he was killed in action on Nov. 26, 1942.

He was a member of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 126th Infantry Regiment, which was part of the 32nd Infantry Division.

That unit was sent to New Guinea, a large island north of Australia. The Japanese had invaded the island and their presence posed a threat to Australia.

Holm’s unit attempted to flank Japanese defensive lines stretched across the Sanananda Track in northern New Guinea, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. In that fighting, Holm was killed. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star.

The medal was presented to his father, Andrew Holm, by Brig. Gen. P.B. Clemens during a ceremony in Lake City on Oct. 13. 1943.

His body was not recovered immediately after the war. However, unidentified remains of U.S. troops were recovered and were buried in the Manilia American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. Holm’s name is listed on the Walls of the Missing at that cemetery.

In 1995, the Department of Defense began investigating the cases of fallen soldiers in New Guinea. Eventually, that research led to remains being exhumed from the cemetery in the Philippines. Those remains were sent to a laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.

There, scientists used dental and anthropological evidence as well as mitochondrial DNA analysis to identify the remains of Holm.

He was born on April 5, 1920, according to an obituary from the Lampe and Powers Funeral Home in Lake City.

Holm grew up on a farm north of Lake City. He enlisted in the Army on Dec. 10, 1941, and reported for duty on Dec. 31, 1941. He completed basic training at Camp Roberts, California.

A visitation for Pfc. Merl W. Holm will be from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. July 9 at Woodlawn Christian Church, 200 N. Woodlawn Ave., in Lake City. The funeral will begin at 11 a.m. in the church.

Burial will follow in the Lake City Cemetery.