{"id":168891,"date":"2025-04-26T07:52:31","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T11:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=168891"},"modified":"2025-04-26T07:52:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T11:52:31","slug":"welcome-home-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=168891","title":{"rendered":"Welcome Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nB-24 Liberator<\/em><\/p>\n

Divers\u2019 discovery of World War II plane crash leads to ID of US soldier, officials say<\/h3>\n

By Kate Linderman<\/strong><\/p>\n

A 22-year-old soldier was one of eight American airmen who vanished during a 1944 crash when their plane went \u201cspinning down into the sea\u201d during World War II, federal officials said.<\/p>\n

His remains were never accounted for \u2014 until now.<\/p>\n

A 2019 discovery by Danish divers found the wreck in the depth of the Baltic Sea, leading excavators to later pull evidence and human remains. This led to the identification of Lt. Robert T. McCollum of Cleveland, Ohio, decades after he went missing in action, the Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency said in a Feb. 26 news release.<\/p>\n

McCollum was onboard a B-24J \u201cLiberator\u201d bomber on June 20, 1944, when the plane crashed with another aircraft in the formation, the agency said. The pilot and co-pilot survived but were taken as prisoners of war while the eight others vanished, officials said.<\/p>\n

A Finding of Death was issued on June 21, 1945, and his remains weren\u2019t discovered for decades. Then, Danish divers made the discovery in 2019 that opened the door to identifying the missing soldiers, according to the news release. They alerted the Royal Danish Navy to a World War II-era aircraft found in the Baltic Sea near where McCollum\u2019s plane had crashed 75 years prior.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kansas City Star<\/a><\/p>\n

Lt. McCollum has returned home.<\/p>\n