The Defense Department announced Thursday that its forensic specialists have identified the remains of 11 airmen missing in action since 1943. It is returning their remains to their families for burial with full military honors. These airmen are: 1st Lt. Richard T. Heuss, 23, Berkley, Mich.; 2nd Lt. Edward R. French, 23, Erie, Pa.; 2nd Lt. Robert A. Miller, 22, Memphis, Tenn.; 2nd Lt. Robert R. Streckenbach, Jr., 21, Green Bay, Wis.; TSgt. Charles A. Bode, 23, Baltimore; TSgt. Lucian I. Oliver, Jr., 23 Memphis, Tenn.; SSgt. Ivan O. Kirkpatrick, 36, Whittier, Calif.; SSgt. James B. Moore, 21, Woburn, Mass.; SSgt. James T. Moran, 21, Sloatsburg, N.Y.; SSgt. William K. Musgrave, 24, Hutsonville, Ill.; and SSgt. Roy Surabian, 24, Medford, Mass. Bode will be buried Friday in Arlington National Cemetery. In addition to his individual service, there will be a group burial ceremony there on March 24. These men formed a B-24D bomber crew that took off on a mission on Nov. 20, 1943, from Jackson Airfield in Port Moresby, New Guinea, and never returned. DOD recovered their remains from a crash site in Papua New Guinea’s Morobe province between 1984 and 2004.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
