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Defense POW/MIA Accounting AgencyFulfilling Our Nation's Promise

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## News Release

# Airman Missing From WWII Identified (Pascal)

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

Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Stephen L. Pascal, 20, of Hollywood, Calif., will be buried onNov. 30, in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. On April 7, 1945, Pascal wasflying a photo reconnaissance mission between Gottingen and Alfeld, Germany, when his P-38Lightning aircraft, fitted for reconnaissance, went missing. An investigation conducted after thewar determined Pascal’s aircraft exploded over the town of Gottingen. Nearby, on the same day,1st Lt. Newell F. Mills Jr., and his wingman, went missing in their P-51D aircraft.

In 1947, the U.S. Army Graves Registration Service (AGRS) exhumed remains of anAmerican pilot, buried by local residents, from a village cemetery in Varrigsen, Germany. Thecircumstantial evidence led AGRS to believe the remains belonged to be Mills since his aircraftwas closer to that village, when it went missing, than Pascal’s. The remains were buried in theArdennes American Cemetery near Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium.

In 2004, a German civilian began excavating the crash site associated with the airmanburied in Varrigsen. Aircraft parts recovered from the location were from a P-38 Lightning—Pascal’s aircraft—not the P-51D flown by Mills. In 2007, the Joint POW/MIA AccountingCommand (JPAC) excavated the crash site and recovered human remains, P-38 aircraft parts andmilitary equipment. In 2008, JPAC exhumed the remains thought to be Mills and examined themwith the remains recovered in 2007. It was determined that the remains were all Pascal’s.

Among forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPACused mitochondrial DNA—which matched that of Pascal’s cousin—in the identification of hisremains.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died. At theend of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover and identify approximately 79,000Americans. Today, more than 73,000 remain unaccounted-for from the conflict.

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) 699-1420.

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