Searched for for nearly eight decades, eventually located in Lithuania, remains of U.S. airmen were transferred to Nebraska on September 16. The final DNA testing will be completed at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s (DPAA) lab in Offutt Air Force Base and then the remains will be returned to next of kin.
The dignified transfer of remains ceremony for the fallen World War II airmen held at the Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine on September 16 was attended by Vice Minister of National Defence Margiris Abukevičius, U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania HE Robert S. Gilchrist, representatives of the Lithuanian Armed Forces top command, Lithuanian and U.S. military personnel.
The three United States Air Force airmen were shot down over the Nazi German-occupied Europe in the period from February to March 1944 in three separate incidents. The DPAA was working with Lithuania for over 75 years in order to locate, identify and repatriate the remains of the fallen.
Photo credits: A.Pliadis
