U.S. Army Air Corps Lt. Robert Eugene Oxford. The remains of Oxford, a World War II veteran, is returning home to Georgia after going missing 74 years ago following an aircraft crash during a supply mission to India. His remains will be returned to his family for burial Sunday, June 11, 2017, with full military honors in his hometown of Concord, Ga.
Photo Credit: U.S. Army via AP
Oxford's family didn't know the wreckage had been found until 2007, when Merrill Roan saw a message on a genealogy website from a relative of another service member on the aircraft. That relative wanted help persuading military officials to investigate the crash site.
Duus' agency confirmed the crash site correlated with the missing aircraft in 2008. But harmful weather coupled with access issues and security delayed recovery operation efforts until late 2015, Duus said.
Officials say a DNA analysis of Oxford's remains matched his niece and nephew.
Roan said the family was "shocked and excited" when they heard the news.
Duus said Oxford is one of 74 veterans who have been identified so far this year. She said all service members are returned to the U.S. for identification before their families are notified, and they are all given funerals with military honors.
Eighty service members were identified in 2015, and that number more than doubled with 164 the following year, Duus said.
The Missing in Action Agency website says there are more than 86,000 Americans still missing abroad from World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Advancements in DNA testing technology and partnerships with other nations have helped find and identify more missing service members than ever, Duus said.
Oxford's parents, siblings and any other relatives who saw him leave for World War II have all died since he went missing, said Moody. Still, the long-overdue homecoming of his remains won't go unnoticed.
A funeral will be held Sunday in a school auditorium, the biggest venue in Concord, Moody said.
"It's just a huge historical event for our little town," Moody said. "The phone constantly rings from people wanting information."
Oxford will be buried in the same plot with his parents, Charles and Bessie Oxford, who had placed a memorial marker for their lost son at the gravesite after his plane went missing seven decades ago.
This story corrects the day of Oxford's funeral to Sunday, not Saturday, and that the remains are returning home after 73 years, not 74. Associated Press writer Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.
