Peace talks between President Trump and Kim Jong Un directly affecting Visalia veteran

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- Like so many other military families, who come to the tomb of the unknown soldier, Douglas Justus, does not have much to grieve his brother Bert by.

Justus has a vague timeline pieced together by historians, outlining the suffering that likely led to his death.

"Can you even think of how you would try to keep your life, you want to keep going, you want to keep going to get back to your home. Every step it may be the last one," said Justus.

Bert was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Shortly after landing on the Korean Peninsula in 1951, he was injured, captured, and forced to march more than 200 miles in the brutal cold.

The enemy eventually left him for dead in a village.

"You wait and wait till it's over, they are walking these boys across the bridge. When it all ended, he didn't walk across the bridge," said Justus.

Through the decades the U.S. government and Bert's family never stopped searching.

Finally, on Monday, President Donald Trump succeeded in negotiating a deal, convincing Kim Jong Un, to let the U.S. recover military remains from the Korean War.

Douglas knows how much the news will mean for his brother's children.

"This will be a real thing for her if her dad gets to come home, even though he may be in a box but he'll be home, there will be a place to go visit him," said Justus.

Douglas also looks forward to that day, where the fate of his brother is no longer unknown.