Free Republic

More than 60 years have passed since U.S. Army Air Forces aviation Cadet Ernest Munn disappeared along with the rest of his flight crew over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, but investigators and family members believe the Belmont County man's remains may finally have been found. A pilot and three crew members died when their plane crashed into the icy peak, and their names were etched on a military gravestone even though most of their actual remains were not recovered. On Friday, a coroner was examining fresh clues revealed earlier this week by a receding glacier in the Sierra Nevada. She...

Body Of WWII Airman Removed From Sierra Glacier POSTED: 11:17 am PDT October 19, 2005 UPDATED: 10:48 am PDT October 20, 2005 FRESNO -- A glacier-encased body believed to be a World War II airman who crashed into the Sierra Nevada in 1942 was flown off the mountain and into a Fresno laboratory for identification, the county's deputy coroner said Thursday. Blustery conditions kept rangers at Kings Canyon National Park from reaching the frozen remains for two days after two ice climbers reported last weekend they had seen a man's head, shoulder and arm protruding from the thick ice. About...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- An ice-encased body believed to be a World War II airman who crashed in 1942 was chipped out of a Sierra Nevada glacier and taken to a laboratory for identification, a deputy coroner said Thursday. Blustery weather kept rangers at Kings Canyon National Park from reaching the frozen remains for two days after ice climbers reported last weekend they had seen a man's head, shoulder and arm protruding from the thick ice. About 80 percent of the body was buried in the glacier on 13,710-foot Mount Mendel. The area can only be reached by hiking two...