Ohio WWII Missing Airman Found; DNA Brings Him Home with Full Honors

  • Print
Details
Category: World News
Published on Friday, 27 November 2015 14:50
Written by Janet Walker

The Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a serviceman, missing from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Army Air Forces 1st Lt. William O. Pile of Circleville, Ohio, will be buried Nov. 10 in Arlington National Cemetery. On Dec. 23, 1944, Pile was assigned to the 559th Bombardment Squadron, 387th Bombardment Group, 9th Air Force, and was deployed to Germany.

Pile was the pilot of a B-26C Marauder, with eight other crewmen onboard, which crashed after being struck by enemy fire while on a bombing mission against enemy forces near Philippsweiler, Germany.

Pile and his co-pilot, 2nd Lt. Robert Ward, were reported killed in action. The other seven crewmen survived the crash by parachuting to safety; however, one crewman was captured by enemy forces and was reported to have died in captivity. His remains were later returned to U.S. custody. Pile and Ward were not recovered during the war.

In April 2009, a Department of Defense (DOD) team traveled to Philippsweiler to interview several German locals who recalled an American war-time crash. The team surveyed the possible crash site.

Between June 2010 and July 2011, two DOD recovery teams excavated the suspected crash site, recovering human remains and aircraft wreckage.

To identify Pile’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used circumstantial evidence and exclusion by mitochondrial DNA testing on a second set of remains associated with Ward.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died. Today, more than 73,000 are unaccounted for from the conflict.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil .

Haute News

Haute Tease

  • Gift Guide: Summer Driving Season Begins with the Hess Mini Collection

    Hess Corporation announced its annual summer kick-off today with the release of its remarkably detailed small-scale vintage toy truck set. The 2022 Hess Mini Collection, with four toys included, is on sale exclusively at HessToyTruck.com

     

  • Art Basel Miami Beach Presents George Segal Solo Show

    For Art Basel Miami Beach 2018, Templon presents, in main section of the fair, an exceptional solo show by late pop artist George Segal (1924-2000), widely considered the most existentialist of all American artists from the pop art era.

     

  • World News: The Dangerously Deserted Arena of French Leadership

    The emptiness of the political speeches of the great French parties, incapable of apprehending contemporary changes, left the field open to two opponents, LREM and Rassemblement National, locked in a Manichean debate dangerous for the Republic.

     

  • World News: The European Dwarf

    Together politically successful, the European Union remains unable to act collectively in the face of the Turkish crisis. This inability reveals internal tensions within the Union but also its marginal role at the international level.

     

  • Gruesome Murder of Teen Shocks Prosecutors

    The gruesome murder of fourteen-year-old Grace Packer is shocking even the most seasoned prosecutors as the details emerge behind the year-long plan her adopted mother and the woman's boyfriend hatched to torture the teen to death.

     

  • KYOCERA Ceramic Coated Cookware Review – Elevate Your Cooking Experience

    Kyocera, of Kyoto Japan, a well know and established name in high end cookware and cutlery tools, recently provided the opportunity to test the ceramic coated cookware so sure of its excellence ability to create only the finest.