Missing World War II Airman Identified

The US Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced on 28 September 2012 the remains of Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Samuel E. Lunday, of Marianna, Florida, had been identified and returned to his family for burial. On 24 April 1943, Lunday and four aircrew members were flying a C-87 Liberator Express transport over the Himalayas. After losing radio communications following takeoff, the crew was never heard from again. In 2003, an American hiker discovered the wreckage of the C-87 near the Burmese border. Artifacts and remains recovered from the site were turned over to US officials for analysis. Scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA to identify Lunday’s remains.