san francisco native edward otulle received full military honors. mike mibach tells us what happened just moments before the ceremony got under way that caught everyone in surprise. >> reporter: a procession for a young private. draped with flags and salutes from fellow soldiers. thousands of strangers young and old were waiting with open arm. >> he did serve his country gallantly and honorably. >> to the honor and memory of this man here, there's no words for it. >> reporter: edward otulle was a soldier with the army's 84 division. a 23-year-old was killed during a world war ii battle in a small german town on november 20th 1984. peter davidson says he was there. >> that battle was a dusey. it was two hours long. >> reporter: ottule was presumed dead and two years ago, a man ran into remains with dog tags. they were later identified as ottulle. and today, he was laid to rest. david ottulle's parents and siblings has passed away. that is until today. a man showed up and said not only is he related but lives in the same house that the young soldier.

tonight the remains of a bay area soldier killed during world war ii are finally home. 23-year-old edward otulle of san francisco was killed in 1974 during a battle in germany. his remains were found two years ago. this morning his remains were laid to rest. otulle had no known living relatives until yesterday when a man claiming to be his great grand nephew read his story. >> here was the chronicle and i read down and it said eddy. i read the article it was all there. >> reporter: larry burg also brought eddy o' toole the purple heart he was awarded. and a temporary head stone was placed. go! go! completing an atm deposit in record time... that's a step forward. go! go! with deposit friendly atms, you can make ultra fast, secure deposits with no slips or envelopes. take a step forward and chase what matters. ♪ i want to sell more tea cups. ♪ i need help selling bread. ♪ i want to sell more crabs. [ male announcer ] you know where you want to take your business. i want to design more buildings. [ male announcer ] in here, small business solutions from at&t can get you there. starting with the at