The remains of Sgt. John P. Bonnassiolle, a crewman in a B-24J bomber that went down over Germany in 1944, have been identified and returned to his family, Defense Department officials have announced. Bonnassiolle, a native of Oakland, Calif., will be buried Tuesday in San Francisco with full military honors. He was a one of 10 airmen lost on April 29, 1944, when their B-24 crashed near the town of East Meitze, Germany, north of Hannover, during a bombing raid against Berlin. DOD-led excavations of the crash site in 2005 and 2007 recovered remains and crew-related equipment, including Bonnassiolle’s identification tags, that led to his identification. (DOD release)
Amid a high-profile recruiting crisis, Air Force leaders and experts have increasingly noted the challenging long-term trends the service will face in enticing young Americans to sign up—decreasing eligibility to serve, less propensity to do so, and less familiarity with the military. But while those same leaders say there’s no “silver…