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Defense POW/MIA Accounting AgencyFulfilling Our Nation's Promise

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## News Release

# Nine Missing WWII Airmen Are Identified (McMurray, Pascual, Wells, Ray, Stiglitz, Cotey, Larrivee, Flood, Schlosser)  

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remainsof nine U.S. servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are beingreturned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are 1st Lt. David P. McMurray, of Melrose, Mass.; 1st Lt. Raymond Pascual, ofHouston, Texas; 2nd Lt. Millard C. Wells, Jr., of Paris, Ky.; Tech. Sgt. Leonard J. Ray, of UpperFalls, Md.; Tech. Sgt. Hyman L. Stiglitz, of Boston, Mass.; Staff Sgt. Robert L. Cotey, ofVergennes, Vt.; Staff Sgt. Francis E. Larrivee, of Laconia, N.H.; Staff Sgt. Robert J. Flood, ofNeelyton, Pa.; and Staff Sgt. Walter O. Schlosser, of Lake City, Mich.; all U.S. Army Air Forces.Ray and Flood were buried last week in Harford County, Md. and Dry Run, Pa., respectively. Theburials of the other servicemen will be at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. ona date to be determined.

Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men in their hometownsto explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with militaryhonors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army.

On July 7, 1944, the men were aboard a B-24J Liberator that departed North Pickenham,England, on a mission to bomb a German aircraft factory near Bernburg, Germany. The planewas last seen by U.S. aircrew members in that vicinity. Captured records revealed that it hadcrashed near Westeregeln, about 20 miles northwest of the target in what would become theSoviet sector of a post-war-divided Germany.

In 2001, a group of German citizens interested in recovering wartime relics and remainslearned of a potential crash site south of Westeregeln. Later that year and in 2002, the groupfound the site and uncovered human remains from what appeared to be two burial locations. Theremains and other personal effects, including identification tags, were turned over to U.S.officials.

In 2003, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) team excavated the crash siteand recovered additional remains, identification tags and non-biological material evidence.

Among dental records, 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 the remains.

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) 699-1169.

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