By Alicia Cruz
The New Jersey Newsroom
The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced the discovery of additional human remains belonging to two servicemen missing in action from World War II.
DPMO announced that the remains have been identified as those of Navy Lt. Francis B. McIntyre of Mitchell, South Dakota and Aviation Radioman Second Class William L. Russell of Cherokee, Oklahoma.
The DOD press release states that on Nov. 10, 1943, the two servicemen took off for a bombing and strafing mission in their SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber from Munda Field, New Georgia, in the Solomon Islands. Witnesses last saw the aircraft flying at low altitude through a large explosion on an enemy airfield on Buka Island, Papua New Guinea, though no one reported seeing the aircraft crash.
Throughout 1949, the American Graves Registration Service searched numerous South Pacific Islands in an effort to gather data about aircraft crashes or missing Americans. The team was unable to recover the remains of the missing servicemen and a board of review declared both dead and their bodies unrecoverable.
In 2007, the same year the remains of Pfc. James C. Konyud were found in an agricultural field between Vossenack and Hürtgen by a German explosive ordnance disposal team, a Papuan national found a World War II crash site near the Buka airport, which was reported to U.S. officials.
In May 2008, specialists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), working with the country's national museum, arrived to investigate the site but excavation was hindered by inclement weather. Items, which had been recovered earlier, were turned over to JPAC by local officials.
Those items included McIntyre's identification tag and other military-related objects. In 2008-2009, JPAC scientists examined the objects and used dental comparisons of the human remains and determined that no excavation would be required since the two sets of remains were nearly complete.
The Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA which matched a sample from Russell's relatives and DNA extracted from a hat belonging to McIntyre.
McIntyre will be buried on Sept. 29, and Russell's burial is set for Oct. 1. Both men will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
In 2008, the remains of an East Orange pilot who fought in World War II were found in the mountains of Papua New Guinea, nearly 64 years after he disappeared, NJ.Com reported.
Second Lt. Arthur F. Eastman left a military base in Finschhafen, New Guinea, on Aug. 18, 1944, and never returned. Searches of the area turned up no sign of the Army pilot's F-5E-2 aircraft.
Eastman's disappearance remained a mystery until a JPAC excavation team found documents related to a long-forgotten crash site in the mountains of the Morobe province of Papua New Guinea.
Today, more than 72,000 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the World War II conflict.
For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, call 703-699-1420 or visit the DPMO Web site.
DPMO announced that the remains have been identified as those of Navy Lt. Francis B. McIntyre of Mitchell, South Dakota and Aviation Radioman Second Class William L. Russell of Cherokee, Oklahoma.
The DOD press release states that on Nov. 10, 1943, the two servicemen took off for a bombing and strafing mission in their SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber from Munda Field, New Georgia, in the Solomon Islands. Witnesses last saw the aircraft flying at low altitude through a large explosion on an enemy airfield on Buka Island, Papua New Guinea, though no one reported seeing the aircraft crash.
Throughout 1949, the American Graves Registration Service searched numerous South Pacific Islands in an effort to gather data about aircraft crashes or missing Americans. The team was unable to recover the remains of the missing servicemen and a board of review declared both dead and their bodies unrecoverable.
In 2007, the same year the remains of Pfc. James C. Konyud were found in an agricultural field between Vossenack and Hürtgen by a German explosive ordnance disposal team, a Papuan national found a World War II crash site near the Buka airport, which was reported to U.S. officials.
In May 2008, specialists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), working with the country's national museum, arrived to investigate the site but excavation was hindered by inclement weather. Items, which had been recovered earlier, were turned over to JPAC by local officials.
Those items included McIntyre's identification tag and other military-related objects. In 2008-2009, JPAC scientists examined the objects and used dental comparisons of the human remains and determined that no excavation would be required since the two sets of remains were nearly complete.
The Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA which matched a sample from Russell's relatives and DNA extracted from a hat belonging to McIntyre.
McIntyre will be buried on Sept. 29, and Russell's burial is set for Oct. 1. Both men will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
In 2008, the remains of an East Orange pilot who fought in World War II were found in the mountains of Papua New Guinea, nearly 64 years after he disappeared, NJ.Com reported.
Second Lt. Arthur F. Eastman left a military base in Finschhafen, New Guinea, on Aug. 18, 1944, and never returned. Searches of the area turned up no sign of the Army pilot's F-5E-2 aircraft.
Eastman's disappearance remained a mystery until a JPAC excavation team found documents related to a long-forgotten crash site in the mountains of the Morobe province of Papua New Guinea.
Today, more than 72,000 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the World War II conflict.
For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, call 703-699-1420 or visit the DPMO Web site.
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