Warbird Information Exchange

Just ran across this on the newswires at work..thought you folks might be interested..

SN

Remains of 9 WWII airmen identified, will be returned for burial
10/11/2007, 8:09 p.m. ET
By KEN THOMAS
The Associated Press


WASHINGTON (AP) — The remains of nine U.S. airmen, missing in action since a World War II mission over Germany, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial, the Pentagon said Thursday.

"It's sort of a closure that I didn't know I was going to have," said Wayne Wells, 63, the son of one of the airmen, 2nd Lt. Millard C. Wells Jr., of Paris, Ky. "I never figured there would ever be any body or any parts."

Wells, of Lexington, Ky., was only six weeks old at the time of the crash and only knew his dad from a few photographs and family stories. He and other relatives said they were thankful to the military for helping them learn the true nature of the crew's death.

"It restores our faith in government procedures to find out they are actually pursuing these men that were lost and returning them and giving the survivors notice. It brings closure," said Martin Casey, 83, of Vergennes, Vt., a friend of Staff Sgt. Robert L. Cotey, one of the nine.

The men were aboard a B-24J Liberator on a mission to bomb a German aircraft factory near Bernburg, Germany. The plane, which departed North Pickenham, England, was last seen by U.S. aircrew members in that area. Captured records showed that it crashed near Westeregeln, about 20 miles northwest of the target, the Defense Department said.

A group of German citizens learned of a potential crash site south of Westeregeln in 2001. Later that year and in early 2002 they uncovered human remains from what appeared to be two burial locations, the Pentagon said. The remains, including identification tags, were turned over to U.S. officials.

In 2003, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command excavated the crash site and found additional remains, identification tags and non-biological material evidence.

Scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used dental records, mitochondrial DNA and other tools to identify the remains.

Army officials have met with the airmen's next-of-kin to discuss the recovery and identification process and to coordinate burial with full military honors, the Pentagon said.

In addition to Wells and Cotey, the airmen were identified as:

_1st Lt. David P. McMurray, of Melrose, Mass.

_1st Lt. Raymond Pascual, of Houston, Texas.

_Tech Sgt. Leonard J. Ray, of Upper Falls, Md.

_Tech Sgt. Hyman L. Stiglitz, of Boston, Mass.

_Staff Sgt. Francis E. Larrivee, of Laconia, N.H.

_Staff Sgt. Robert J. Flood, of Neelyton, Pa.

_Staff Sgt. Walter O. Schlosser, of Lake City, Mich.

Stiglitz's relatives said the news restored him to the family in a way that was more than physical. Stiglitz was 25 when the plane crashed.

"My lost uncle, which was a name only, became a person," said Stiglitz's nephew Bill Stuart, 47, of San Diego, Calif. "It was the first time I ever had an uncle."

Last week, Ray was buried in Harford County, Md., and Flood in Dry Run, Pa. The burials of the other servicemen will be at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington at a later date, the Pentagon said.

Paul Arnett, a Mesa, Ariz., historian for http://www.492ndbombgroup.com and the son of a pilot for the same bomber group, said the 492nd was known as the "hard-luck group" and the nine men were known as the "hard-luck crew" because they typically returned battered from their missions.

Arnett said when he recounts the crew's history, he likens their durability to a Timex watch.

"If there was anyone who could take anything," Arnett said, "it was these guys."

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Associated Press writers Jay Lindsay in Boston and John Curran in Montpelier, Vt., contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

Pentagon site on missing Americans: http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo