ALBANY, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia Air Force pilot has been laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery almost 50 years after he was killed in Vietnam.

WALB-TV (http://bit.ly/1JxhXOA) reports United States Air Force Col. William "Earl" Cooper was buried Thursday at a ceremony attended by family at the military cemetery in northern Virginia. Cooper's plane was shot down on a mission during the Vietnam War in 1966.

The Air Force didn't officially declare him killed in action until 1978. In 1989, remains were recovered from the area where Cooper's plane went down. The family was informed that the remains were Cooper's in December, 48 years after his death.

Cooper's granddaughter said it was a funeral her family never thought they would see.

Arlington National Cemetery was established during the Civil War.