Eric Connor/Post & Courier

Nearly eight decades have passed since William Linder, known to loved ones as “Bud,” was killed in one of the longest and most costly battles of World War II. For years, his remains were buried in a cemetery in Belgium — an unknown soldier. But on Oct. 29, the Army staff sergeant from Piedmont, born 107 years prior, reached his final resting place back home in Anderson County with all the pomp and circumstance of a fallen war hero returning home.