01 Jul Veterans Launch Dig to Recover the Remains of WWII US Vets in England
In hopes of finding the remains of three WWII Veterans, a team of US Veterans has started a mission to dig up a field in England, 77 years after the tragic event took place.
According to the American Veterans Archeological Recovery (AVAR), there is still hope that the team could find and bring their fallen compatriots home. The crash site is located in Arundel, a southern town of West Sussex.
In 1944, just weeks after D-day, a B-24 was conducting a bombing raid near Paris. However, it was damaged by an anti-aircraft fire during the mission.
Despite being severely damaged, the crew somehow managed to get safely to the English coast. While seven crew members were able to make it, the pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer were still aboard when the plane crashed in Arundel.
The plane was part of an American unit that operated during 1944 that conducted tactical missions in northern France. Some parts of the plane were recovered in the 1970s and 1980s.
To recover the occupants’ remains, members of AVAR and the University of York have joined forces to work together on this mission.
According to the US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), more than 70,000 WWII American Vets are still unaccounted for.
Stephen Humphreys, CEO of AVAR, is leading this mission in hopes of giving closure to any survivors by retrieving the fallen’s remains.
Humphreys said, “All of us veterans, including myself, take comfort in knowing that we are not going to be forgotten.” He also added, “The people in this area have been protecting this crash site for the last 77 years, so we want them to be as involved as they want to be in the recovery operation.”
The crash site has been preserved since then and turned into a memorial decorated with two American flags.
The dig is being taken place under the Operation Keeping Faith, which offers a chance to Veterans to work on archeological sites.
SOURCE- CNN
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