The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office has identified nine airmen missing in action from World War II. They are: 2nd Lt. Hugh L. Johnson Jr. of Montgomery, Ala.; 2nd Lt. Byron L. Stenen of Northridge, Calif.; 2nd Lt. John F. Green of Watertown, N.Y.; 2nd Lt. John M. Meisner of Pembroke, Mass.; SSgt. Walter Knudsen of Sioux City, Iowa; Cpl. John A. DeCarlo of Newark, N.J.; Cpl. Robert E. Raney of Monon, Ind.; Cpl. William G. Mohr of Mt. Wolf, Pa.; and Cpl. Michael J. Pushkar of Mahanoy City, Pa. They took off on the morning of Oct. 9, 1944, in their B-24D Liberator to fly a training mission from New Guinea. The aircraft was never seen again, and officials speculated the crew ran into bad weather. In 2002, US officials learned that villagers in Morobe Province, New Guinea, had found two dog tags and launched an investigation.
The Chinese spy balloon may have popped, but funding to protect against similar threats is inflating, according to the Department of Defense. The high-attitude surveillance balloon that traversed the U.S. in late January and early February prompted last-minute additions to the Pentagon's budget of around $90 million for measures to…