Three more ID’ed

Three more airmen from WWII have been identified, after they were lost on a low-level bombing raid over Burma. (Myanmar for you kids.)

U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Charles W. McCook, 23, U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Henry J. Carlin, 27, and U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. Sidney Burke, 22, were carrying out a low-altitude bombing raid in Meiktila, Burma, on Aug. 3, 1943, the DPAA said.

The mission was carried out with a B-25C “Mitchell” bomber. McCook was the plane’s pilot. Carlin was its navigator, and Burke was the armor-gunner. There were three other men also aboard the plane. B-25 bombers were among the most famous American planes used in World War II, according to the National Museum of the United States Air Force, and were used in every combat area and extensively in the Pacific Theater.

Four of the crew were killed when the plane crashed during the raid. Two other crew were captured by the Japanese. Neither the two POWs nor the fourth crew member were named or accounted for (not surprising, Japanese POWs were treated very poorly and about 60% of our boys captured never made it home. For contrast, about 3% of POWs taken by the Germans died in captivity.)

McCook, Carlin and Burke’s remains were not recovered after World War II ended. All three were declared missing in action. More details about how the three mens’ (sic)remains were found and identified will be released once their families receive a full briefing, the DPAA said.

Perhaps some of the more astute readers can enlighten me – is there any other country maintaining an ongoing search for missing war dead as we do?  As a reminder – if anyone in your family is MIA in any recent war, you should contact DPAA to give them a DNA sample. You could help ID our fallen.

Category: Army, We Remember, WWII