Five Missing WWII Airmen are Identified

[Pilot]

NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 523-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 02, 2007
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

Five Missing WWII Airmen are Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today
that the remains of five U.S. servicemen, missing from World War II, have been
identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full
military honors.

They are 1st Lt. Cecil W. Biggs, of Teague, Texas; 1st Lt. William L. Pearce,
of San Antonio, Texas; 2nd Lt. Thomas R. Yenner, of Kingston, Pa.; Tech. Sgt.
Russell W. Abendschoen of York, Pa.; and Staff Sgt. George G. Herbst of
Brooklyn, N.Y.; all U.S. Army Air Forces.Pearce was buried April 27 in
Louisville, Ky.; Herbst will be buried June 8 at Arlington National Cemetery
near Washington, D.C.; Biggs will be buried June 9 in Teague, Texas;
Abendschoen's funeral is June 13 at Arlington; and Yenner will be buried July 30
at Arlington.

Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men in their
hometowns to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate
interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the Army.

On Sept. 21, 1944, a C-47A Skytrain crewed by these airmen was delivering
Polish paratroopers to a drop zone south of Arnhem, Holland, in support of
"Operation Market Garden."Soon after departing the drop zone, the plane crashed
and there were no survivors.The Germans opened the dikes in the region where the
plane crashed and flooded the area before any remains could be recovered.

When Dutch citizens returned to their homes in Arnhem the next year, they
recovered remains from the Skytrain's wreckage and buried them in a nearby
cemetery.A U.S. Army graves registration team later disinterred the remains
which were reburied as group remains in 1950 at the Zachary Taylor National
Cemetery in Kentucky.

In 1994, a Dutch citizen located more human remains and other crew-related
materials at a site associated with this C-47 crash.They were eventually turned
over to U.S. officials.

Among dental records, other forensic identification tools and circumstantial
evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed
Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the
identification of the remains of these five men.The remains that could not be
attributed to a specific individual have been buried with the first set of group
remains at the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for
missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call
(703) 699-1169.

[Alex Smart]

Hello,

This was C-47A serial number 42-93029 from the 315th TCG 309th Sqdn (Code: M6 ).
Delayed by bad weather the 315th finally were able to drop the Poles. Two others from the 315th were 43-15339 / Dawkins and 43-15612 / Wakley.
Heavy flak was met and five C-47's were shot down.

[Pilot]

Thanx