Mon, Apr 25, 2011
Crewman Flew Aboard A C-87 In China
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO)
announced Friday that the remains of a serviceman, missing in
action from World War II, have been identified and are being
returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
C-87 Library of Congress Image
U.S. Army Air Forces Pfc. Mervyn E. Sims, 23, of Petaluma, CA,
will be buried Friday in his hometown. On April 24, 1943, Sims and
four crew members aboard a C-87 Liberator Express departed from
Yangkai, China, in support of “the Hump” resupply
mission between India and China.Prior to takeoff, a ground crew
determined the aircraft had sufficient fuel for the six-hour flight
to the air base on other side of the Himalayas in Chabua,
India.Once cleared for takeoff, there was no further communication
between the aircrew and airfield operators.Army officials launched
a search effort when the plane did not arrive at the destination.No
evidence of the aircraft was found and the five men were presumed
killed in action.
In 2003, an American citizen in Burma reported to U.S. officials
at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) that he had found
aircraft wreckage he believed to be an American C-87 in the
mountains 112 miles east of Chabua.He was detained by Burmese
officials when he attempted to leave the country with human remains
and artifacts from the site.The remains and materials were handed
over to officials at the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon. Attempts to
excavate the site are being negotiated with the Indian
government.
Meanwhile, JPAC scientists continued the forensic process,
analyzing the remains and physical evidence already in hand.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial
evidence, the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used
mitochondrial DNA, which matched that of Sims’ sister, in the
identification of his remains.
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