The remains of WWII pilot Robert Mains will be buried with full military honors in the Wading River area of Long Island, New York, on Saturday after being missing for more than 70 years.
Mains’ B-24 Liberator aircraft was shot down during a raid over Germany in April 1945. Only one of the 10 crew members survived the raid, and he was captured by the Germans.
The plane's crash site was found in 1997, but it wasn’t until 2014 that recovery teams discovered remains that could be tested for DNA, and Mains’ remains were positively identified in September.
Mains was part of the 714th Bombardment Squadron, 448th Bombardment Group, 2nd Bombardment Division. His name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery, where a rosette will be added next to his name to show his remains were found, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.
Mains was 27 years old when he became one of the 400,000 Americans to die in World War II. Nearly 73,000 soldiers out of the estimated 16 million who served are still not accounted for.
According to the Fields of Honor Database, Mains was awarded the Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters and the Purple Heart for his service. A memorial was previously located at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Rochester, New York.
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