2nd Lt.Wells of Paris, Kentucky, was the co-pilot among nine crewmen aboard a B-24J Liberator that departed North Pickenham, England, on a mission to bomb a German aircraft factory near Bernburg, Germany. The plane was last seen by U.S. aircrew members in that vicinity. Captured records revealed that it had crashed near Westeregeln, about 20 miles northwest of the target in what would become the Soviet sector of a post-war-divided Germany. In 2001, a group of German citizens interested in recovering wartime relics and remains learned of a potential crash site south of Westeregeln. Later that year and in 2002, the group found the site and uncovered human remains from what appeared to be two burial locations. The remains and other personal effects, including identification tags, were turned over to U.S. officials. In 2003, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) team excavated the crash site and recovered additional remains, identification tags and non-biological material evidence. Among dental records, other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains. Millard was married with two small sons when he died. His wife and one son have since passed away.
NOTE: Declared dead on 07/08/1945
NOTE: Declared dead on 07/08/1945
2nd Lt.Wells of Paris, Kentucky, was the co-pilot among nine crewmen aboard a B-24J Liberator that departed North Pickenham, England, on a mission to bomb a German aircraft factory near Bernburg, Germany. The plane was last seen by U.S. aircrew members in that vicinity. Captured records revealed that it had crashed near Westeregeln, about 20 miles northwest of the target in what would become the Soviet sector of a post-war-divided Germany. In 2001, a group of German citizens interested in recovering wartime relics and remains learned of a potential crash site south of Westeregeln. Later that year and in 2002, the group found the site and uncovered human remains from what appeared to be two burial locations. The remains and other personal effects, including identification tags, were turned over to U.S. officials. In 2003, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) team excavated the crash site and recovered additional remains, identification tags and non-biological material evidence. Among dental records, other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains. Millard was married with two small sons when he died. His wife and one son have since passed away.
NOTE: Declared dead on 07/08/1945
NOTE: Declared dead on 07/08/1945
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