Army Helps Repatriate Remains of WWII Pilot | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.14.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.15.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.16.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.17.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Thu, Jun 27, 2024

Army Helps Repatriate Remains of WWII Pilot

P-47 Thunderbolt Pilot Lost Over Central Italy

Many are probably not aware of this but approximately 72,000 U.S. personnel remain missing from World War II according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), the only federal agency tasked with locating and accounting for missing service members active in past conflicts. 

Several thousand of them are in Europe.

Between April 6 – June 8 of this year, US Army paratroopers stationed with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vicenza, Italy, assisted DPAA on an archaeological investigation to recover a pilot of a P-47 Thunderbolt in Central Italy. DPAA does not divulge the location, name of the person, or other details until after identification is confirmed and the family has been notified.

Following a painstaking analysis of military reports and records, local contemporaneous reports of a crash or wreckage, an initial team is sent to conduct a preliminary search of the site using ground-penetrating radar, metal detectors, and small-scale soil surveys. If enough evidence is found, the full recovery team is scheduled and dispatched.

In this instance after the site was identified, 14 paratroopers of the 173rd Brigade cleared the area of trees, brush, and other vegetation and prepared the site for excavation.

Pvt. Samuel Aguilar-Andres said, “When we went out there it was just trees, up in the mountains. All we saw was trees.”

The soldiers also manned the wet screening station where water is poured over soil heaped on wire mesh to search for evidence. Everyone took part in getting the job done regardless of what was required. “I saw leaders doing the same work as the privates, and that meant a lot,” added Pvt. Aguilar-Andres.

The teamwork also impressed Sgt. Dillon Long with the 54th Brigade Engineer Battalion, who said, “We had a lot of dudes who might be combat engineers doing generator maintenance. We had radio guys doing the same thing. You name it, people were out doing all sorts of things.”

The investigative team searches primarily for human remains, but other identifying objects like watches or rings can help identify the person. After a match is confirmed, DPAA contacts the service member’s branch, which then reaches out to the family.

The DPAA has identified about 1,000 people since 2015 when it was reorganized under its current structure.

FMI: www.dpaa.mil

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.15.25): Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach

Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach An approach conducted while operating on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan which authorizes the pilot of an aircraft to proceed >[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (07.15.25)

“When l became the Secretary of Defense, I committed to rebuild our military to match threats to capabilities. Drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.15.25)

Aero Linx: Stearman Restorers Association Welcome to the Stearman Restorers Association. The Stearman Restorers Association is an independent “Not for Profit” 501C-3 Co>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Kjelsrud Gary Kitfox

Airplane Exhibited A Partial Loss Of Engine Power When It Was About Halfway Down The Runway Analysis: The pilot of the experimental amateur-built airplane was departing from his pr>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Cessna A150L

The Flight Path Was Consistent With Low-Altitude Maneuvering On June 18, 2025, about 0922 mountain standard time, a Cessna A150L airplane, N6436F, was substantially damaged when it>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC