An army pilot’s plane went down during World War II. He’s been laid to rest 80 years after going missing in action

(CNN) — A 25-year-old World War II pilot who went missing in action 80 years ago during a mission in southeast Asia was given full honors and laid to rest in Kansas earlier this week.

Second Lt. John E. McLauchlen Jr., of Detroit, was killed during World War II in 1943 while flying during a bombing mission from Panagarh, India, to a railyard near Rangoon, Myanmar – then known as Burma, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

McLauchlen was officially accounted for on January 25, 2024, the agency said. He was buried at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery on July 8 and honored with a B-1 bomber flyover, according to Fort Leavenworth.

On December 1, 1943, McLauchlen’s B-24J Liberator bomber plane reached the intended target but was struck by “anti-aircraft fire, causing the left wing to burst into flames,” according to the accounting agency.

“My uncle was in charge of the mission that day, so his plane was right in the front, right in the center,” McLauchlen’s nephew, Richard McLauchlen Jr., said in an interview with the US Army published Thursday.

“Once they started taking fire, and with that smoking wing, my uncle decided to drop out of the formation so that his plane wouldn’t cause anyone else to be shot down,” Richard McLauchlen Jr., who is a Vietnam veteran, said.

Witnesses from another plane said they saw the one flown by McLauchlen fall into a steep dive before disappearing beneath clouds, officials reported.

“It was noted that (three) enemy aircraft were also seen following the crippled plane into the clouds, and no further contact was made with the Liberator,” the agency said. “The remains of the crew were not recovered or identified after the war, and they were all later declared Missing In Action.”

McLauchlen served as a member of the 436th Bombardment Squadron, Seventh Bombardment Group in the Army Air Forces at the time of his disappearance.

Four years later, the American Graves Registration Service found the remains of what were thought to be eight people involved in a potential B-24 Liberator crash near Yodayadet, Burma, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

The remains couldn’t be identified scientifically at the time and were sent to Honolulu’s National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

The accounting agency said it received a family disinterment request in early 2019 for one of the unidentified people “based on past attempts to associate the remains with other unresolved losses from southern Burma,” according to the release.

The remains were exhumed in October 2020 and taken to a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency laboratory for analysis, the agency said.

Scientists used anthropological analysis and circumstantial and material evidence to identify McLauchlen, and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis. His nephew’s DNA helped identify him, the US Army reported.

“He was unknown for 80 years, and now he’s here, he’s home, and he’ll never be lost again,” Richard McLauchlen Jr. said of his uncle in the US Army interview.

Genetic genealogy blends DNA analysis in the lab with genealogical research, such as tracing a person’s family tree. Lauded as a way to explore personal history and connect with previously unknown kin, such DNA matching also has been used to link victims to criminals such as the Happy Face Killer, who murdered at least eight women, and to identify other long-missing military service members.

CNN’s Michelle Krupa contributed to this report.

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