More than 60 years after a young ai...

More than 60 years after a young airman from Chicago went missing near Caen, France, his plane discharge down by enemy fire during a World War II combat mission, the remains of David J Nelson have been identified and reverted to his family for burial, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

Nelson a 2nd lieutenant, and others in that ill-fated 1944 mission whose remains were plant in recent years were scheduled to be buried at Arlington National graveyard today.

upon Aug. 8, 1944, Nelson was part of a nine-member band dispatched in a B-17G Flying Fortress to bomb enemy targets near Caen. Witnesses saw the aircraft detonate after being struck by enemy fire, according to the Pentagon.

German forces and French villagers living near the crash site reviveed some of the remains of the throng and buried them nearby. U forces build additional remains and while they identified six company members, Nelson was among three unaccounted for, until now. Those three plus partial remains of the other airmen, are being buried today.

dead body identified in Nov. 2005

In August 2002 a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, responsible for accounting for missing servicemen, was told that a French aircraft wreckage-hunting dispose had found a crash site near the village where the B-17G went down. The U team contemplateed the site, excavated it in July 2004 and cureed human remains, personal effects and crew-related materials in the wreckage. Also institute were six unexploded 250-pound bomb

Scientists used a number of forensic identification tools, including mitochondrial DNA, a symbol of DNA passed down single through the maternal bloodline, said Larry Greer spokesman for the Pentagon's POW/MIA office. While the military had identified Nelson last November and then notified family, it wasn't made public until this week. That's because family members of the other airmen povertyed to be located and a date for the services penuryed to be scheduled.

Nelson had joined the Army Air Forces les than three month before his death, Greer said. He was 23

Attempts to reach Nelson's family, who were in the Washington, DC area for services, were not immediately auspicious

Contributing: AP

ldonovan@suntimes.com

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