The DPAA, an agency of the Department of Defense, is in charge of locating American military personnel missing in action, estimated at more than 81,000 in 45 countries.
The plane, a B-24 bomber, was attacked on April 8, 1944, while returning from an operation in which about 200 planes of the United States Air Force participated in the bombing of three factories in Germany.
The flight crew consisted of ten soldiers, including officers and sergeants, who would have died as a result of the plane’s fall.
“Bringing home the remains of those lost in action is America’s sacred duty,” said Capt. Jordan Smith, leader of a group of 25 people in charge of search tasks, as the Department of Defense said in a statement.
The Pentagon did not disclose the exact city in Germany where the remains were found but explained that after World War II (1939–1945), they were located in East Germany controlled by the Soviets, complicating access for the Americans.
Search operations began on August 1 at the farmland where the plane crashed, a place found thanks to a magnetometer, which measures changes in the Earth’s magnetic field.
So far, a hole about two meters deep has been dug, but researchers believe it should go down seven meters to find the nose of the plane.
Among the recovered goods Currently, there are uniforms, parachutes, life jackets, coins, watches, weapons, identification plates, and airplane propellers.
Excavators had to remove the soil with extreme care because there were still ammunition and explosives underground.
Once found, the remains of the soldiers will be taken from the US base in Ramstein, Germany, to Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska (USA), where the US Army has a forensic laboratory.
The DPAA, an agency of the Department of Defense, is in charge of locating US military personnel missing in action, estimated to be more than 81,000 in 45 countries.
