Posted on 07/18/2002 2:39:45 PM PDT by knighthawk
FEIGNIES, France (AP) — A museum in northern France has opened a permanent exhibit on an American fighter pilot whose remains were found 56 years after he went missing during World War II.
The exhibit reconstructs the career of Lt. William Wyatt Patton Jr., a Missouri native whose remains, along with parts of his plane, were found in a nearby field last year. The exhibit opened last month.
The Patton room of the Fort de Leveau museum, housed in a 19th century military fort, displays pieces of the fighter plane and a silk parachute found in it. Patton's career is traced through official documents and photographs.
Patton, a Stark City, Mo., native, was 27 when the P-51 Mustang he was flying Jan. 15, 1945, crashed in a French bog as he returned from a mission.
Patton was reported missing in action, and his family believed he plunged into the English Channel. But French workers draining a soggy field near Feignies, 155 miles northeast of Paris, in February 2001 discovered Patton's remains, which were identified through DNA testing.
Those remains were taken to Missouri in December.
A memorial ceremony at the museum is planned for January. Patton's family will attend.
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