And SSGT Knudsen's:
Staff Sgt. Walter Knudsen's remains were found 58 years after his plane was lost in New Guinea.
Chuck Haga, Star Tribune
Harold Knudsen, 85, of Park Rapids, Minn., hasn't seen his brother in more than 60 years, but he is in Iowa today to be close to him once more.
Walter Knudsen joined the Army Air Forces during World War II and served as a gunner on a B-24 Liberator. Harold, three years older, served in the Marines as an aircraft welder.
Harold came home. Walter didn't.
"All we heard was that his plane had taken off and never returned," Harold said. "It was lost over the jungle" on Oct. 9, 1944.
In 2002, a New Guinea villager walking through the thick foliage of the rain forest found a set of dog tags. They were Walter's. The villager took the tags to officials in Port Moresby, who contacted U.S. authorities.
An MIA recovery team based in Hawaii searched the site, 11 miles southwest of Lae, New Guinea, in 2003. They eventually found the buried wreckage, recovered the remains and began trying to identify them.
Harold Knudsen provided a blood sample, and DNA testing proved that one set of remains was his brother.
Walter will be buried Saturday in Memorial Park Cemetery in Sioux City, near his parents.
"It's unbelievable -- 62 years," said Terri Knudsen, Harold's daughter, who with the help of the Iowa National Guard arranged for Saturday's memorial service and burial. "We're so blessed to have him returned to us."
She watched at the Omaha airport Tuesday as her uncle's flag-draped casket was delivered from Hawaii, accompanied by a military escort. "They stay with it 24 hours a day until he's buried," she said.
Her father wasn't there. "He said he couldn't handle it emotionally," she said.
Harold went to the cemetery Wednesday to let his parents know that Walter was coming.
"It's a great relief to have a loved one returned to our home," he said.
Harold moved to Park Rapids in 1970 and opened a laundry in the northern Minnesota town. He retired in 1985 but continues to live there.
Terri Knudsen, 57, lives in Maryland. She was born nearly five years after her uncle died.
"I never met him, but boy, did I hear incredible stories about the man," she said. "He was so young, just 21. And look at the amount of responsibility he had at 19 and 20, when he was promoted to staff sergeant and was training gunners."
The brothers were close, she said. "They shared a bedroom, and they did everything together. They helped support the family during the Depression, delivering papers."
"My uncle had wavy blond hair and was Hollywood handsome," Terri Knudsen said. "His crewmates on the B-24 called him 'Daisy.'
Thanks.
Every now and then, for 62 years, Fred Byrd would look at a photo of his cousin and ask, "Where are ya, ol' buddy?"
He never got an answer -- until two weeks ago, when defense officials confirmed they had found the remains of 2nd Lt. Hugh Johnson deep in the jungles of the South Pacific.
Johnson's B-24D Liberator crashed into the side of a mountain in New Guinea during World War II, killing the Alabama pilot and eight crewmembers.
"This is a miracle," said Byrd, who grew up with Johnson near Geneva. "I always wondered if he had been shot down ... or if his plane had gone down in the ocean, if he was hanging from his parachute in the jungle."
Johnson, 21 at the time he died, will receive a full military funeral and flyover Thursday in Geneva. Services begin at 2 p.m. at the Pittman Funeral Home.
Johnson's plane took off Oct. 9, 1944, on a foggy morning for a training session in New Guinea and never returned, federal officials said.
The disappearance was reported in the Oct. 27, 1944, edition of the Montgomery Advertiser.
Johnson, who had attended Auburn University for a year before to joining the Army Air Corps, was believed to have been shot down on one of his first missions, his father, Hugh Johnson Sr., told the newspaper.
In November 2002, POW recovery teams from Hawaii traveled to New Guinea to interview two villagers who found the plane and two sets of dog tags, one for Johnson and another for Cpl. Michael J. Pushkar, one of Johnson's crewmates.
In February 2003, the federal Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office excavated the wreckage and found human remains from the nine crewmembers, said spokesman Larry Greer. Workers identified the entire crew in October of 2005 through DNA analysis, items found at the site and dental records.
Johnson's half brother, Harold Johnson, said Army officials came to his Montgomery home March 7 with his brother's dog tags, his college ring, photos of the crash and confirmation that his brother's DNA matched that of his cousin, Betty Jean Hyman of Conway, S.C.
"All of these years. All of these years. Sixty-two years, fella, 62 years. And all of a sudden they tell me they've found him, and I said, 'My stars, after 62 years,'" said Harold Johnson, who was 8 when his father told him his older brother went missing. "This is a work of God."
Harold Johnson said after his brother went missing, he decided to join the Air Force.
"I remember telling my dad as a teenager that I was going to join the Air Force and go over there to find him, but during my time in the Air Force I never went near New Guinea," he said.
Byrd, 81, was serving in the Navy in New Guinea when the plane crashed, and he remembers the empty feeling he had.
For years, he has coped by looking at the framed photos of Johnson in his living room. When his eyesight went about three years ago, he'd hold the photo and take comfort from it.
"It was the furthest thing from my mind that he would ever be found and returned home," he said. "But he's home, and we're going to give him a big celebration."
Nice story. Thank you.