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."
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