To the calm, Mother Earth's
Waiting breast;
Duty done, Like the sun:
Going West.
Posted on 09/05/2007 3:10:21 PM PDT by Dubya
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
He is 2nd Lt. Harold E. Hoskin, U.S. Army Air Forces, of Houlton, Maine.He will be buried Friday in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.
Representatives from the Army met with Hoskin's next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.
On Dec. 21, 1943, Hoskin was one of five crewmen on board a B-24D that departed Ladd Field in Fairbanks, Alaska, on a cold-weather test mission.The aircraft never returned to base and it was not located in subsequent search attempts.The following March, one of the crewmen, 1st Lt. Leon Crane, arrived at Ladd Field after spending more than two months in the Alaska wilderness.He said that the plane had crashed after it lost an engine, and Crane and another crewmember, Master Sgt. Richard L. Pompeo, parachuted from the aircraft before it crashed. Crane did not know what happened to Pompeo after they bailed out.
In October 1944, Crane assisted a recovery team in locating the crash.They recovered the remains of two of the crewmen, 1st Lt. James B. Sibert and Staff Sgt. Ralph S. Wenz.Hoskin's remains were not found and it was concluded that he probably parachuted out of the aircraft before it crashed.
In 2004, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) received information from a National Park Service Historian regarding a possible WWII crash site in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Alaska.The historian turned over ashes believed to be the cremated remains of the crew, however, it was determined they contained no human remains.In 2006, a JPAC team excavated the site and recovered human remains and other non-biological material, including items worn by U.S. Army officers during WWII.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of Hoskin's remains.
RIP.
God bless him.
The link you used goes to Yahoo Mail. Do you have a working link to the article?
Welcome home, LT. Hoskin.
Fascinating. I’d love to hear the story of the crewmember who survived for two months in the wilderness.
Here’s a live link:
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=11300
Airman Missing from WWII is Identified
Thank you very much.
You just know Lt. Hoskin is smiling down from Heaven.
Thank you.
Start here:
Moses had it easy
http://www.nps.gov/archive/yuch/Expanded/b24/crane.htm
or here:
Alone in the Arctic
http://alumweb.mit.edu/classes/1941/Crane.html
Clickable:
Moses had it easy
http://www.nps.gov/archive/yuch/Expanded/b24/crane.htm
or here:
Alone in the Arctic
http://alumweb.mit.edu/classes/1941/Crane.html
I have the utmost respect and gratitude for all those from the “greatest generation” who fought to secure our freedoms and those of the world. May they all be blessed and forever live in the kingdom of our the Lord our God following their days of service here in life...
Prayers for 2nd Lt. Harold Hoskin and his family. He made the ultimate sacrifice for his country, God bless him! Simply amazing his remains were found after all this time.
Thanks, I was wondering about his story too
Without reading details of the account of the survival of Lt. Crane, I would have to call it a miracle he survived two months in the dead of winter in the interior of Alaska while making his way back to civilization.
He was handsome! May he rest in peace.
Thanks for supplying the link, PAR35.
Looks like he could have been in a Hollywood movie made at the time.
I'm going to seek out and read a detailed account too but apparently he survived by following a string of stocked trapper's cabins that eventually led him to human inhabitants. Had to have some wits and fortitude just to do that though. 80 days!
My Father in Law, Mitch Ramonas, a Sergent USAF, Army AirForce, shot down over Sweinfort(?), 1943. Two year prisoner of the Germans, father of half of Poland after he was liberated by Russians, they all looked like Movie Heroes.
My son had his annual birthday bash for his Great Granddaughter, my Katie: "Hey Mitch want a drink?"
"Yea, Vodka and Cranberry, F the doctors, 85 and still going.
:~ )
Welcome Home Airman.
Welcome Home Airman.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.