ATLANTA (AP) - The Latest on the return of a WWII veteran’s remains to Georgia 73 years after he went missing (all times local):
5:30 p.m.
The remains of a U.S. Army airman missing decades after his plane crashed over India have been returned to rural Georgia to be buried alongside those of his parents.
Terrell Moody of Moody-Daniel Funeral Home says the body of 1st Lt. Robert Eugene Oxford arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport about 4 p.m. Thursday. Moody says the State Patrol, Patriot Guard and Pike County Sheriff’s Office guided a hearse carrying Oxford’s casket from the airport to the funeral home.
Oxford will be buried over the weekend with full military honors in his hometown of Concord, Georgia.
Officials say Oxford’s unit went on a supply mission from Kumming, China, to Chabua, India, in January 1944, but never reached its destination. The airport wreckage was found in in 2006, and Oxford’s remains were recovered in 2015.
Officials say a DNA analysis of Oxford’s remains matched his niece and nephew.
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4 a.m.
The body of a U.S. Army airman missing for decades after his plane crashed over India is returning home to be buried alongside his parents in rural Georgia.
The Defense Prisoners of War/Missing in Action Agency says the remains of 1st Lt. Robert Eugene Oxford will arrive at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Thursday afternoon. He will be buried over the weekend with full military honors in his hometown of Concord, Georgia.
Officials say Oxford’s unit went on a supply mission from Kumming, China, to Chabua, India in January 1944, but never reached its destination. The airport wreckage was found in in 2006, and Oxford’s remains were recovered in 2015.
Officials say a DNA analysis of Oxford’s remains matched his niece and nephew.
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