By Jessica Easthope

Andrew McVeigh never met his Uncle Jack but today he buried him.

“He was a presence in my family without being physically there and by that I mean I was always being confronted by him,” Andrew said.

John Joseph Heffernan Junior was considered a hero long before he enlisted in the Army Air Corp in 1942. An altar boy who graduated St. John’s University at the top of his class. He had dreams of being a doctor if he survived the war.

Andrew and his wife Amy received Jack’s remains, a few of his teeth, skull fragments and a shoulder bone at Newark Airport. He’s Jack’s only family and he’s standing by his side during his last and final mission.

“I feel that I owe this, I just feel a very strong debt that I have to do this and in particular to him given that my greater understanding I didn’t have before we got all this word, it’s an obligation on my part, it’s something I have to do,” said Andrew.

Before he was buried next to his mother in St. John’s Cemetery in Middle Village, he was buried beneath ten feet of mud in a peanut field in Myanmar. Where his B25G bomber was shot down over Burma on February 22, 1944 – he remained, for a lifetime.

“This was a real scar, the degree of loss the family felt over this guy was just incredible,” said Andrew.

DNA technology, the persistence of the United States Military and a mother’s love brought Jack home. In the years after the war Jack’s mom Mary sent letters to the Pentagon, to Congress, even to the Bishop of Mandalay, begging someone, anyone to look for her son.

“In the letters my grandmother wrote she would say at the time he was MIA she said I’m going to see him again so there’s an aspect of reuniting that was very important to me,” Andrew said.

Without remains a funeral and burial weren’t possible. But on Saturday, Jack’s remains were escorted in a flag-draped casket over the George Washington Bridge to the Diocese of Brooklyn.

When given the option between Arlington and burying Jack next to his mother in Queens – Andrew says there was no clearer choice.

“This is a journey of return, the loss created such a hole in the family and when given the opportunity to fill the hole it wasn’t even close, the decision was very easy,” he said.

Jack was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart. His life and his sacrifice honored at last.

“The Gospel of St. John chapter 15 verse 13 says greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. He probably knew he wasn’t going to come out of this but he was doing it because he was defending his family, his friends, his neighbors and his country,” said Andrew. “He probably knew he wasn’t going to come out of this but he was doing it because he was defending his family, his friends, his neighbors and his country.”

Jack is back where his life began and with his mother who never gave up on finding her son. Jack is home.

By Jessica Easthope

You can acquire a lot of secret ingredients over 40 years as a professional chef. Michael Edmonds says his favorite one is no longer a secret; his faith is a part of every meal he makes.

“My faith is very, very strong, if anything this is the fun part of my faith because this gives me the opportunity to give back,” said Michael.

Michael’s owned his own restaurant, cooked for celebrities and royalty but these days he finds himself in a very different kind of kitchen.

“This fabulous life, what are you doing here, this is part two of that fabulous life to me because I get such pleasure here,” he said.

Now he cooks full time for the Brothers of the Sacred Heart at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Maspeth where he’s worked for five years.

“It’s nothing fancy, they live simply, it’s very easy to take a chicken breast and make it spectacular or salmon and make it something unusual and pretty because you eat with your eyes before you eat with your mouth and that’s key,” said Michael.

Michael can barely remember all the big names he’s cooked for, but technique, he can never forget. He whips up meals on a modest budget, he says that’s when his training kicks in. And the brothers seem to love it, but more than that, they love Michael.

“Michael is a tremendous person, I know he’s a great cook and a good chef but over and above that he’s a great person to be around and he adds a lot of our community here,” said Brother Xavier Werneth.

By Jessica Easthope

Michael was the baby, Peggy Virgadamo’s youngest of four, her pride and joy. They spoke every day, even when he moved down to Florida. They were more than mother and son – they were best friends.

“What a beautiful gift God gave us to be able to share in the creation and development of a child throughout their entire life and what greater gift could I have,” she said.

Now Michael and Peggy’s relationship lives on through this book, “Love Letters from a Mother to her Dying Son.” Peggy wrote letters when she couldn’t be with Michael during his last days.

“I wasn’t allowed to see him, he didn’t want us to quote – watch him die, I guess I was being protected and my pastor said to me, thing of Mary and the pieta and I said she got to hold her son, I didn’t,” she said.

On April 14, 2017, Good Friday, Michael lost his battle with an aggressive form of throat cancer.

“I went through the anger and the frustration and my faith was shattered I didn’t care if I lived or died and I’m not that kind of person, I still had a beautiful family who loved me, I had no right feeling that way but I did, I lost my son, I lost my baby,” said Peggy.

Peggy took her time to grieve before pouring her loss and love into her book. She published it on Amazon earlier this year, with all of the proceeds going back to Cathedral Prep, Michael’s alma mater.

“Cathedral’s motto is “men for greatness,” to me, and of course I’m prejudiced but Michael personified that in every phase of his life,” she said.

The book was on Amazon’s best seller list among new arrivals in the bereavement category the week of its release.

“If I can help one person get over this hurdle of feeling despair and hurt and lost the book is worthwhile,” said Peggy.

With her through her grieving and writing process was her pastor at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Father Anthony Sansone.

Father Sansone says the book has inspired his own view on life after death.

“His spirit is quite present, I believe in the invisible and much of what has happened in the past year he has brought about by the very power of God,” said Father Sansone.

Peggy sought out to help others – but the book has allowed her to heal.