Airman’s Remains Identified

National Museum Of The US Air Force Photo

The US Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced on 16 July 2013 that the remains of Army Air Forces Sgt. Jerome E. Kiger, of Mannington, West Virginia, had been identified. Kiger was a crew member on a Consolidated B-24H Liberator bomber shot down over Oberpfaffenhoven, Germany, on 21 July 1944. Of the nine crew members, six were able to parachute to safety. A seventh crewman’s remains were later recovered. Kiger and another crewman were not recovered, despite attempts after the war. In 2012, a US recovery team excavated a suspected crash site, locating human remains and aircraft wreckage. Kiger’s remains were identified through circumstantial evidence, dental comparisons, and mitochondrial DNA. Kiger was buried on 21 July in Fairmont, West Virginia.