The Defense Department’s POW-MIA Accounting Agency has announced that the remains of a Wichita pilot from World War II have been identified.
In March, 1944, 24-year-old Herbert Tennyson was on board a B-24D Liberator named Heaven Can Wait, which was on a bombing mission over present day Papua New Guinea. Observers from other aircraft saw flames coming from the plan and it was seen pitching up violently before banking left and crashing into the water. It’s believed that the plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire, causing un-dropped bombs to explode.
Efforts to recover the remains in the 1940s were unsuccessful, but the wreckage of the plane was discovered in a renewed search in 2017 and remains were recovered. Analysis confirmed the remains of Tennyson.
Tennyson’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Tennyson will be buried in Wichita, Kansas, on a date yet to be determined.
[ photo: POW-MIA Accounting Agency ]
