It took 150 years for this veteran to finally get the respect he deserves.
Brave black Civil War soldier Sandy Wills was recently given a heartfelt military burial — after his great-great-great-granddaughter, Spectrum News NY1 anchor Cheryl Wills, tracked down his unmarked grave in Tennessee, she told The Post.
Wills went on a 15-year fact-finding mission — with the help of professional genealogists and archeologists — to find the resting place of her ancestor, who escaped slavery to join the United States Colored Troops in 1863.
This Veteran’s Day, he’ll be honored for the first time ever with a flag on his headstone at West Tennessee State military Cemetery.
“This is very emotional for me. For me, this is justice,” Wills said. “He was a leader, he was fearless, he was strong, and he was a visionary.”
Willis began investigating the background of her ancestor in 2009 after learning he wasn’t “honored by his country” the way her late Vietnam Veteran dad was upon his death, she said.
“I said, ‘This is a shame,’ ” she recalled. “And I started digging.”
She soon enlisted genealogists to pull historic documents from the National Archive along with family-tree records and eventually traced Sandy’s grave site to Brownsville, Tenn.
“I realized he was buried in an unmarked grave on the slave plantation where he worked — and the same family still owned it,” she said.
“I know he would have said, ‘Granddaughter, get me out of here,’ ” she said.
In 2017, the family who owned the plantation allowed her to visit the property, where Sandy and several other former slaves were buried on a hillside.
A team of archeologists dug up his grave and confirmed his remains. He stood at 5 ‘9 and died at age 50.
“I almost passed out,” Wills said. “When that excavator went down, I had to grab onto a tree. … I was overwhelmed with emotion.”
After a yearslong investigation, the US Military confirmed his service, and he was laid to rest surrounded by relatives at the military cemetery Aug.10, Wills said.
“They handed his remains to me, and I put it in the most expensive casket money could buy,” she said. “It was my honor.”
Sandy Willis was sold into slavery as a 10-year-old boy before escaping from the plantation with friends and serving in the United States Colored Troops’ 4th Heavy Field Heavy Artillery.
“This is the first Veterans Day we’ll be putting a flag on his headstone,” Wills said. “I’m proud of his service, and I’m proud that he survived slavery.”
