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The 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Caisson Platoon; The U.S. Army Band, "Pershing's Own"; and The U.S. Army Honor Guard conduct a Full Honors Group Funeral Service for U.S. Army Air Forces Airmen missing from World War II in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, June 27, 2018. Laid to rest were Airmen Tech. Sgt. John Brady; Tech. Sgt. Allen Chandler, Jr.; 1st Lt. John Liekhus; Staff Sgt. Robert Shoemaker; and Staff Sgt. Bobby Younger.
All five Airmen were members of the 323rd Bombardment Squadron, 91st Bombardment Group (Heavy), Eighth Air Force, during World War II when their nine-man aircrew was on a mission to Merseburg, Germany. Their B-17 plane was hit by flak during this bomb run and fell out of formation, crashing two kilometers southwest of the town of Barby on Nov. 2, 1944. Three crewmembers survived and were taken as prisoners of war. One airman who was killed was identified in May 1945 while the rest of the crew was declared missing in action. In January 1951, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) concluded that the five unaccounted for crew members perished in the crash with the location of the B-17 unknown.
From the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)'s new release:
Department of Defense historians and analysts, aided by German researchers and local government officials, located a potential crash site associated with their loss. Recovery operations were conducted from June to September 2015. Recovery teams found osseous remains, material evidence and aircraft wreckage.
DPAA returned to the crash site in April and May 2016, locating additional osseous remains, material evidence and aircraft wreckage, consolidating them with the evidence from the previous operations.
Three of the crew, Brady, Shoemaker and Younger, were able to be individually identified through mitochondrial DNA analysis, forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence. The remains that could not be individually identified represented the entire crew.
Two caskets were present at the service on June 27 - one with the individual remains of Shoemaker, and another with the comingled unidentified remains. Individuals who received U.S. flags were: Nancy Farrell, Shoemaker's sister; Gertrude Reynolds, Liekhus' sister; and Fern Bridges, Chandler's widow who has since remarried. The U.S. flag from the casket carrying the comingled remains will be presented to the Casualty Assistance Office.
| Date Taken: | 06.27.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 06.27.2018 19:18 |
| Category: | B-Roll |
| Video ID: | 610451 |
| VIRIN: | 180627-A-ZZ998-001 |
| Filename: | DOD_105781835 |
| Length: | 00:03:40 |
| Location: | ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, VA, US |
| Downloads: | 17 |
| High-Res. Downloads: | 17 |
This work, Full Honors Group Funeral Service for Airmen Missing From World War II - Arlington National Cemetery, by Mary Cochran, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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