Remains Of Two Flyers Buried With Full Military Honors
Two airmen missing from World War II have recently been
identifed by the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office
(DPMO).
Sgt. Michael A. Chiodo, U.S. Army Air Forces was buried Oct. 20
in his hometown of Cleveland. He was 22 years old at the time of
his death.
On April 29, 1944, the Eighth Air Force ordered more than 600
aircraft to bomb the railroad system in downtown Berlin. Chiodo was
the assistant radio operator aboard a B-24J Liberator that took off
from Wendling Air Base, County Norfolk, England. The aircraft
crashed with nine other crew members aboard when attacked by German
fighters before reaching their target. The precise location of the
crash could not be determined during the dogfights, but other crew
members’ observations placed it north of Hanover.
B-24 Liberator File Photo
In 2003, a German citizen began excavating the crash site near
the village of Meitze and turned over human remains to U.S.
officials. A Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team traveled to
excavate the crash site in 2005 and 2007, recovering additional
remains and crew-related equipment—including identification
tags for four of the crew members.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial
evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental comparisons and the
Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA,
which matched that of Chiodo’s sister, niece and
great-nephew, in the identification of his remains.
U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Arthur F. Parkhurst, of Evansville,
IN, was buried on Oct. 16 in Dayton, Ohio. On March 12, 1945,
Parkhurst and five other crew members aboard a C-47A Skytrain
departed Tanauan Airfield on Leyte, Philippines, on a resupply
mission to guerilla troops. Once cleared for takeoff there was no
further communication between the aircrew and airfield operators.
When the aircraft failed to return, a thorough search of an area
ten miles on either side of the intended route was initiated. No
evidence of the aircraft was found and the six men were presumed
killed in action, their remains determined non-recoverable.
C-47 File Image
In 1989, a Philippine National Police officer contacted U.S.
officials regarding a possible World War II-era aircraft crash near
Leyte. Human remains, aircraft parts and artifacts, including an
identification tag belonging to Parkhurst, were turned over to the
local police, then to U.S. officials.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial
evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command used
dental comparisons and the Armed Forces DNA Identification
Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA—which matched that of
Parkhurst’s brother and sister—in the identification of
his remains.
Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more
than 400,000 died. At the end of the war, the U.S. government was
unable to recover and identify approximately 79,000 Americans.
Today, more than 72,000 are unaccounted-for from the conflict.