The United States is conducting searches in northeastern Germany to find the remains of ten soldiers who were aboard a bomber shot down by the Nazis during World War II, the Pentagon reported Thursday.
The plane, a B-24 bomber, was attacked on April 8, 1944 while returning from an operation involving about 200 United States Air Force aircraft to bomb three German factories.
The flight crew was made up of ten soldiers, including officers and sergeants, who died when the plane crashed.
“Bringing home the remains of those missing in action is America’s sacred duty,” said Captain Jordan Smith, leader of a 25-person team carrying out the search, the Department of Defense said in a statement.
The Pentagon did not reveal the exact German city where the remains are sought, but explained that after World War II (1939-1945) the location remained in Soviet-controlled East Germany, making access complicated for Americans.
The search tasks began on August 1 on the grounds of a farm where the plane crashed, a location detected thanks to a magnetometer, which measures changes in the Earth’s magnetic field.
So far a hole about two meters deep has been dug, but researchers believe it will be necessary to go down as far as seven meters to find the nose of the plane.
Among the objects recovered so far are uniforms, parachutes, life jackets, coins, watches, weapons, dog tags and airplane propellers.
Excavators must remove the earth very carefully, as there are still ammunition and explosives underground.
Once found, the remains of the soldiers will be transported from the North American base in Ramstein, Germany, to the Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska (USA), where the US army has a forensic laboratory.
The DPAA, an agency of the Department of Defense, is responsible for the search for U.S. military personnel missing in action, estimated at more than 81,000 in 45 countries.
Source: TSF
