Japanese family reunites with World War II veteran's grandson over souvenir flag.

From his grandfather, who served the United States during World War II, a man in New York inherited a "Yosegaki Hinomaru" banner, also known as a good luck flag.

After consulting with an expert, Scott Stein decided to return the souvenir flag to its rightful owner instead of restoring it, as originally planned.

Bernard Stein, his grandfather, served in World War II from 1942 to 1945 at the U.S. Army boot camp at Camp Croft, South Carolina, and later in the Philippines with the U.S. Army's 38th Infantry Division, famously known as the Avengers of Bataan, he stated.

Stein said that the flag hung proudly in his grandfather's house for many years and he was always fascinated by it as a child.

He did not speak openly about the war or his wartime experiences, like most veterans.

Stein, a lifelong collector with a passion for the past, was restoring his flag when an expert advised him to return it in 2017 after hearing about a similar flag being returned to Japan.

Stein did research and found the Obon Society in Oregon.

The organization helps families reunite by returning "non-biological human remains," such as a flag, that were taken during times of war.

Japanese soldiers carried their country's flags with inscriptions of names and messages from loved ones for good luck, as Stars and Stripes reported.

Stein stated that after communicating with the Obon Society and discovering their objective of tracing the descendants of the original owners, he arranged for the flag to be sent to them for a potential return journey to Japan.

The Obon Society discovered the flag carried in battle belonged to Yukikazu Hiyama, who passed away in 1945, after a seven-year search.

The fallen soldier's son received the flag, and the family hosted a returning ceremony.

The man carried a portrait of both his parents, explaining why his mother had waited her entire life for her husband to come back home.

A representative from the Obon Society informed Planet Chronicle Digital via email that she passed away without ever seeing him again.

"The son took the Yosegaki Hinomaru flag to the cemetery and displayed it in front of his mother's grave to demonstrate that her husband had finally returned home."

The Japanese MIA family experiences the same emotional impact and sense of closure from these flags as American MIA families do from the return of bones and teeth.

According to Stars and Stripes, this son only has this memento of his father.