Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Robert E. Moessner, missing from World War II, has now been accounted for.
On April 18, 1944, Moessner was the bombardier of a B-24 aircraft out of Kwelin, China, and was shot down near Hong Kong, along with eleven other crewmembers onboard. The aircraft had been conducting a sea sweep and encountered a Japanese merchant ship and escorting destroyer. After making two passes, they withdrew under heavy fire, but were subsequently shot down by Japanese fighters. The pilot crashed the aircraft into shallow water of Hong Kong harbor, and it broke apart. Two crewmembers survived and were captured by the Japanese. Upon their release at the conclusion of the war, they reported that Moessner went down with the aircraft.
In the days following the crash, the Japanese salvaged the wreckage and recovered two bodies. Local residents also found bodies near the shore. At the end of hostilities, Army Graves Registration Service (AGRS) recovered the remains and took them into custody. Three sets were eventually identified and the fourth was buried as an “Unknown” in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.
In August 2005, based on advances in DNA technology the grave was exhumed and sent to the lab for analysis.
DNA analysis and circumstantial evidence were used in the identification of his remains.
Interment services are pending.