Remains found on glacier believed to be those of(another) WWII airman

San Diego Union ^ | 21 Aug 2007 | Garance Burke

[radar101]

AT-7 Trainer Aircraft

FRESNO – Mountain backpackers have discovered remains believed to be those of a missing World War II airman resting atop a glacier near where an aviation cadet's body was found two years ago, authorities said Monday. The second set of human remains was found in an alpine region of Kings Canyon National Park in the Sierra Nevada range on Wednesday, as little as 50 feet from where climbers spotted the ice-entombed body of Leo Mustonen in October 2005, park officials said.

Military anthropologists plan to analyze the largely decomposed body, which they believe could be one of three men who was flying with Mustonen when their AT-7 navigational trainer plane disappeared after takeoff from a Sacramento airfield on Nov. 18, 1942.

On board were Mustonen, of Brainerd, Minn.; pilot William Gamber, 23, of Fayette, Ohio; and aviation cadets John Mortenson, 25, of Moscow, Idaho, and Ernest Munn, 23, of St. Clairsville, Ohio. A blizzard is believed to have caused the crash.

All four were given a military funeral in Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, but for decades the servicemen's families have struggled to find closure. Mustonen was laid to rest in his hometown last year.

Military officials planned to notify families of the three men Monday, said Robert Mann, deputy scientific adviser for the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command, which concluded in February 2006 that the first body was Mustonen's.

Jeanne Pyle, 87, sister of Ernest Munn, said she heard news reports Monday night about the latest discovery. The family has been waiting a long time to bring her brother home, she said.