Remains of Missing Maine Airman Killed During WWII Have Been Identified
According to WGME 13, a 19-year-old Maine man that was killed during World War II has been identified.
WGME reports that 19-year-old, Richard G Salsbury of Canaan, was deployed in 1943 as part of the 345th Bombardment Squadron with the 98th Bombardment Group.
Salsbury was operating as a gunner on a B-24 liberator aircraft when it was shot down by anti-aircraft rounds north of Bucharest, Romania. The aircraft Salsbury was on was carrying out Operation TIDAL WAVE which was a bombing mission targeting the oil fields and refineries in Ploiesti, WGME reports.
The remains were positively identified this past September by the United States DPAA or, The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, according to the article.
Following his death, Salsbury's remains were buried in Romania in the 'hero section' of the Civilian & Military Cemetery, according to WGME. However, following the war, an organization called the American Graves Registration Command, went back to retrieve all American remains and in hopes of positively identifying them.
Some of the remains, over 80 in fact, could not be positively ID'd and were transferred for permanent burial at the Ardennes American Cemetery and also the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Belgium, WGME says.
In 2017, officials began to attempt identifying remains that had been thought to be part of Operation TIDAL WAVE, of which Salsbury was one of those men. WGME says that a combination of dental and anthropological analysis was used to help ID Salsbury.
His remains will be transferred back to Maine to be buried in Canaan, details to follow.
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