Airman Accounted For From WWII (Triplett, J.)

WASHINGTON   –   The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. James M. Triplett, 36, killed during World War II, was accounted for Oct. 25, 2022.

In September 1944, Triplett was assigned to 700th Bombardment Squadron, 445th Bombardment Group, 2d Air Division, 8th Air Force. On Sept. 27, the B-24H Liberator bomber on which he was serving as a radio operator was part of a large mission to bomb the industrial city Kassel in northern Hesse, Germany. During the mission the formation of aircraft encountered heavy resistance from enemy ground and air forces, which resulted in the rapid loss of 25 Liberators. Several of the crew aboard Triplett’s aircraft were able to bail out, and witnesses who survived did not report seeing him escaping the aircraft. Six of the nine crew members were killed. His body unable to be recovered and the Germans never reported him as a prisoner of war. The War Department issued finding of death on Sept. 28, 1945.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.

Triplett’s personnel profile can be viewed https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000LlaFEAS.