Staff Sgt. Norman L. Nell, of Tarkio, Mo. On April 16, 1944, a B-24 Liberator crewed by these airmen was returning to the aerodrome at Nadzab, New Guinea, after bombing enemy targets near Hollandia. The aircraft was altering course due to bad weather and was proceeding to the aerodrome at Saidor, but it never returned to friendly lines. In late 2001, the U.S. Embassy in Papua New Guinea notified the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command that wreckage of a World War II bomber had been found in Morobe Province. Early the next year, a JPAC team surveyed the site and found aircraft wreckage and remains. They also collected more remains and Grady's identification tag from local villagers who had found the items at the crash site. Later in 2002, a JPAC team began excavating the crash site and recovered remains and crew-related items, including identification tags for Knight and Smith. The team was unable to complete the recovery, and another JPAC team re-visited the site two weeks later to complete the excavation. The team found additional remains and identification tags for Sargent and King.
The mystery behind a fallen soldier of a tiny town tucked away in the north-western most corner of the state has finally been solved, after more than half a century. The Defense Department has identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Norman Nell of Tarkio 63 years after his B-24 Liberator went missing during World War II. The department says Nell's bomber crashed in the Finesterre Ranges of New Guinea in 1944. He was an assistant engineer. It was a high school memento that helped identify Nell after all these years. Investigators found Nell's class ring among the wreckage and used it along with DNA tests to identify the soldier. His parents never gave up in trying to figure out what happened to their son. His mother wrote wrote letters to the government and to other parents whose children were missing from the same crash for years in an attempt to find out what happened. His mother passed away in 2002 at the age of 104. His father died in 1948. Nell was an only child.
His name is etched on Manila American (ABMC) Cemetery and Memorial .
The mystery behind a fallen soldier of a tiny town tucked away in the north-western most corner of the state has finally been solved, after more than half a century. The Defense Department has identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Norman Nell of Tarkio 63 years after his B-24 Liberator went missing during World War II. The department says Nell's bomber crashed in the Finesterre Ranges of New Guinea in 1944. He was an assistant engineer. It was a high school memento that helped identify Nell after all these years. Investigators found Nell's class ring among the wreckage and used it along with DNA tests to identify the soldier. His parents never gave up in trying to figure out what happened to their son. His mother wrote wrote letters to the government and to other parents whose children were missing from the same crash for years in an attempt to find out what happened. His mother passed away in 2002 at the age of 104. His father died in 1948. Nell was an only child.
His name is etched on Manila American (ABMC) Cemetery and Memorial .
Staff Sgt. Norman L. Nell, of Tarkio, Mo. On April 16, 1944, a B-24 Liberator crewed by these airmen was returning to the aerodrome at Nadzab, New Guinea, after bombing enemy targets near Hollandia. The aircraft was altering course due to bad weather and was proceeding to the aerodrome at Saidor, but it never returned to friendly lines. In late 2001, the U.S. Embassy in Papua New Guinea notified the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command that wreckage of a World War II bomber had been found in Morobe Province. Early the next year, a JPAC team surveyed the site and found aircraft wreckage and remains. They also collected more remains and Grady's identification tag from local villagers who had found the items at the crash site. Later in 2002, a JPAC team began excavating the crash site and recovered remains and crew-related items, including identification tags for Knight and Smith. The team was unable to complete the recovery, and another JPAC team re-visited the site two weeks later to complete the excavation. The team found additional remains and identification tags for Sargent and King.
The mystery behind a fallen soldier of a tiny town tucked away in the north-western most corner of the state has finally been solved, after more than half a century. The Defense Department has identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Norman Nell of Tarkio 63 years after his B-24 Liberator went missing during World War II. The department says Nell's bomber crashed in the Finesterre Ranges of New Guinea in 1944. He was an assistant engineer. It was a high school memento that helped identify Nell after all these years. Investigators found Nell's class ring among the wreckage and used it along with DNA tests to identify the soldier. His parents never gave up in trying to figure out what happened to their son. His mother wrote wrote letters to the government and to other parents whose children were missing from the same crash for years in an attempt to find out what happened. His mother passed away in 2002 at the age of 104. His father died in 1948. Nell was an only child.
His name is etched on Manila American (ABMC) Cemetery and Memorial .
The mystery behind a fallen soldier of a tiny town tucked away in the north-western most corner of the state has finally been solved, after more than half a century. The Defense Department has identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Norman Nell of Tarkio 63 years after his B-24 Liberator went missing during World War II. The department says Nell's bomber crashed in the Finesterre Ranges of New Guinea in 1944. He was an assistant engineer. It was a high school memento that helped identify Nell after all these years. Investigators found Nell's class ring among the wreckage and used it along with DNA tests to identify the soldier. His parents never gave up in trying to figure out what happened to their son. His mother wrote wrote letters to the government and to other parents whose children were missing from the same crash for years in an attempt to find out what happened. His mother passed away in 2002 at the age of 104. His father died in 1948. Nell was an only child.
His name is etched on Manila American (ABMC) Cemetery and Memorial .
Inscription
SSGT, US ARMY AIR FORCES WORLD WAR II
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