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FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Wesley L. Jones, a Soldier killed during World War II, will be interred Sept. 23 at Wichita Parks Cemetery, Wichita, Kansas. Hillside Funeral Home, Wichita, will perform graveside services preceding the interment.
A native of Wichita, Jones was a gunner assigned to the 345th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force. He was serving aboard a B-24 Liberator bomber when it crashed Aug. 1, 1943, after being hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. His remains were not identified following the war. Remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania. Jones was 22 years old.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification. More than 80 unknowns could not be identified and were permanently interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, both in Belgium.
In 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated with unaccounted-for airmen from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses, sending the remains to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination and identification.
Jones was accounted for by the DPAA March 16, 2023, after his remains were identified using chest radiograph comparison and circumstantial evidence as well as, dental, anthropological, mitochondrial DNA analysis.
His name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, Italy, 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 Staff Sgt. Jones, go to: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3478494/airman-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-jones-w/
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 703-699-1420/1169.
Media interested in covering and/or obtaining more information about the funeral and interment should contact the Army Casualty Office at 800-892-2490 and/or Hillside Funeral Home, 316-943-2929.
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| Date Taken: | 09.18.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 09.18.2023 09:54 |
| Story ID: | 453645 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 71 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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