Remains Of Two Flyers Buried With Full Military Honors

Two airmen missing from World War II have recently been identifed by the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO).

Sgt. Michael A. Chiodo, U.S. Army Air Forces was buried Oct. 20 in his hometown of Cleveland. He was 22 years old at the time of his death.

On April 29, 1944, the Eighth Air Force ordered more than 600 aircraft to bomb the railroad system in downtown Berlin. Chiodo was the assistant radio operator aboard a B-24J Liberator that took off from Wendling Air Base, County Norfolk, England. The aircraft crashed with nine other crew members aboard when attacked by German fighters before reaching their target. The precise location of the crash could not be determined during the dogfights, but other crew members’ observations placed it north of Hanover.

B-24 Liberator File Photo

In 2003, a German citizen began excavating the crash site near the village of Meitze and turned over human remains to U.S. officials. A Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team traveled to excavate the crash site in 2005 and 2007, recovering additional remains and crew-related equipment—including identification tags for four of the crew members.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC used dental comparisons and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA, which matched that of Chiodo’s sister, niece and great-nephew, in the identification of his remains.

U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Arthur F. Parkhurst, of Evansville, IN, was buried on Oct. 16 in Dayton, Ohio. On March 12, 1945, Parkhurst and five other crew members aboard a C-47A Skytrain departed Tanauan Airfield on Leyte, Philippines, on a resupply mission to guerilla troops. Once cleared for takeoff there was no further communication between the aircrew and airfield operators. When the aircraft failed to return, a thorough search of an area ten miles on either side of the intended route was initiated. No evidence of the aircraft was found and the six men were presumed killed in action, their remains determined non-recoverable.

C-47 File Image

In 1989, a Philippine National Police officer contacted U.S. officials regarding a possible World War II-era aircraft crash near Leyte. Human remains, aircraft parts and artifacts, including an identification tag belonging to Parkhurst, were turned over to the local police, then to U.S. officials.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command used dental comparisons and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA—which matched that of Parkhurst’s brother and sister—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 72,000 are unaccounted-for from the conflict.

FMI: www.dtic.mil/dpmo