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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