Defense Department forensic scientists identified the remains of Army Air Forces pilot 2nd Lt. Verne L. Gibb of Topeka, Kan., who had been missing since the end of World War II, announced the Pentagon. Gibb’s burial with full military honors is scheduled for April 23 in Leavenworth, Kan., states the DOD’s release. On Oct. 23, 1945, Gibb was one of four crewmembers and two passengers flying a routine cargo mission in a C-47B from Myitkyina, Burma, to Chabua, India, when the aircraft disappeared in unfavorable weather. Searches for the aircraft were unsuccessful and the US military declared the six dead. In 2002, US defense officials acquired remains that proved to be Gibb’s back from an American teacher in Burma who received them from a Burmese priest, states the release. DOD forensic scientists used circumstantial evidence and mitochondrial DNA to help identify Gibb.
The Space Force’s work to establish a pool of at-the-ready commercial satellite capacity during a crisis is moving out of the pilot phase as the service prepares to award its next batch of contracts in 2026.
