Remains of World War II Soldier to be buried in Saint Louis

Courtesy Photo | The remains World War II Soldier U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Melvin B. Meyer will be interred May 26, at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis. Meyer was a bombardier serving aboard a B-17G Flying Fortress bomber during a huge bombing mission over Leipzig, Germany, May 29, 1944, when the plane was shot down after enemy fighters attacked the bomber’s formation. Unable to escape the plane he was killed in the crash at age 25.  

FORT KNOX, KY, UNITED STATES

05.18.2023

Story by Fonda Bock 

U.S. Army Human Resources Command

FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of a Soldier killed during World War II will be interred May 26, at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis. Graveside services for U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Melvin B. Meyer will be performed by Pitman Funeral Home, Wentzville, Missouri, preceding the interment.

A native of Pattonville, Missouri, Meyer was a bombardier assigned to the 569th Bombardment Squadron, 390th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 13th Bombardment Wing, 3rd Air Division, 8th Air Force. He was serving aboard a B-17G Flying Fortress bomber during a huge bombing mission over Leipzig, Germany, May 29, 1944, when the plane was shot down after enemy fighters attacked the bomber’s formation roughly 28 miles northeast Leipzig. Six of the 10 crew members escaped the plane before it crashed near Horst. The rest, including Meyer, were killed. He was 25 years old. Bodies recovered from the crash were believed to have been buried in a local cemetery. There was no evidence of Meyer being a prisoner of war or having survived, so a Finding of Death was issued a year after the crash.

The American Graves Registration Command, charged with recovering the remains of fallen service members in the European Theater, found the remains of one crew member buried in a cemetery in Horst in September 1946. After 1950, worsening diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, who controlled this part of Germany at the time, prevented the AGRC from investigating further. Meyer was declared non-recoverable April 21, 1953.

An investigation team recovered evidence of a B-17 at the crash site in July 2012. The site was later excavated by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in July and August 2019 who recovered possible material evidence and remains, which were sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for scientific analysis.

Meyer was accounted for by the DPAA Sept. 9, 2022, after his remains were identified using circumstantial and material evidence as well as dental, anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis.

His name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Hombourg, Belgium, along with others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

For additional information about 1st Lt. Meyer, go to: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3162679/airman-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-meyer-m/

To learn more about the Department of Defense’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or call [phone]/1169.

Media interested in covering and/or obtaining more information about the funeral and interment should contact the Army Casualty Office at [phone] and/or Pitman Funeral Home, 636-327-6600.


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• Date Taken: 05.18.2023
• Date Posted: 05.18.2023 08:21
• Story ID: 445003
• Location: FORT KNOX, KY, US