Defense Department officials announced Wednesday that they have identified the remains of two airmen missing in action from the Vietnam War. They are: Col. James E. Dennany, 34, of Kalamazoo, Mich., and Maj. Robert L. Tucci, 27, of Detroit. DOD has returned their remains to their families; they will be buried with full military honors Friday in the Dallas-Ft. Worth National Cemetery. On Nov. 12, 1969, enemy anti-aircraft fire reportedly downed the F-4D that Dennany and Tucci were flying over Laos while escorting an AC-130 gunship during a night strike mission. The intensity of anti-aircraft fire prevented a formal search for them. Based on human remains and artifacts received from villagers near Ban Soppeng, Laos, in 1999, joint US-Lao teams conducted three excavations between 1999 and 2009 that recovered more wreckage and human remains that led to the identification of both airmen.
The B-21 Raider stealth bomber was recently flown, for the first time, by an operational pilot as part of its flight test process, the Air Force said June 11. And a top Pentagon official said the move to bring operational testing into the B-21 process earlier than normal shows the…