The Defense Department announced that it has identified the remains of 10 airmen missing in action from World War II. DOD officials are returning the airmen’s remains to their families for burial with full military honors. The airmen were the crew of a B-24J Liberator lost over Germany on April 29, 1944. They are: 2nd Lt. Robert R. Bishop of Joliet, Ill.; 2nd Lt. Thomas Digman Jr., Pittsburgh; 2nd Lt. Donald W. Hess, Sioux City, Iowa; 2nd Lt. Arthur W. Luce, Fort Bragg, Calif.; SSgt. Joseph J. Karaso, Philadelphia; SSgt. Ralph L. McDonald, East Point, Ga.; Sgt. John P. Bonnassiolle, Oakland, Calif.; Sgt. James T. Blong, Port Washington, Wis.; Sgt. Michael A. Chiodo, Cleveland; and Sgt. John J. Harringer Jr., South Bend, Ind. They will be buried as a group in a single casket on Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery. Hess and Karaso also will be interred individually there. Crash site excavations in 2005 and 2007 led to recovery of human remains, military equipment, and personal belongings that enabled the airmen’s identification, according to DOD.
Improving Guam’s Defenses is Top Priority for INDOPACOM
March 4, 2021
Protecting Guam is the top priority for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, as the island territory and its large military presence has grown in strategic importance and the command is calling on Congress for billions more to build up its infrastructure there and across the region. INDOPACOM boss Adm. Philip S. Davidson,…