Thu, Sep 26, 2013
Interred With Full Military Honors At Arlington National Cemetery
The remains of Air Force pilots Maj. James E. Sizemore of Lawrenceville, IL, and Maj. Howard V. Andre Jr., of Memphis, TN, have been identified and were returned to their families for burial with full military honors on Sept. 23 at Arlington National Cemetery.
On July 8, 1969, Sizemore and Andre were on a night armed reconnaissance mission when their A-26A Invader aircraft crashed in Xiangkhoang Province, Laos. Both men died in the crash but their remains were unaccounted for until April 2013. In 1993, a joint U.S./Lao People’s Democratic Republic team investigated an aircraft crash site in Laos. They recovered aircraft wreckage from an A-26. The team was not able to conduct a complete excavation of the site at that time.
Twice in 2010, joint U.S./Lao People’s Democratic Republic teams conducted excavations of the crash site recovering human remains, aircraft wreckage, personal effects and military equipment associated with Sizemore and Andre.
In the identification of the remains, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) used circumstantial evidence and forensic identification tools, such as dental comparison – which matched Sizemore’s records.
Television station WJLA in Washington, D.C. reports that the Warrior Flight Team was given permission to operate in the National Capital Airspace to pay respects to the two Majors. Military jets are still prohibited from participating in such ceremonies due to sequestration. The overflight included a B-25, two P-51s, and an A-26 similar to the one Sizemore and Andre were flying when they went down. A four-jet formation later performed a missing-man formation at the end of the ceremony.
There are more than 1,640 American service members that are still unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War.
(A-26A Invader pictured in file photo)
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