Missing WWII bomber navigator Henry J. Carlin finally identified

In the United States, the remains of a World War II bomber navigator have been identified after being missing in action for 82 years. On August 3, 1943, 1st Lt. Henry J. Carlin was navigating a B-25C Mitchell bomber when it crashed during a low-altitude raid in Meiikila, Burma. Of the six crew members aboard, Carlin, aged 27, was one of four who were killed, while two survived and were capture by Japanese forces. Following the war, Carlin was declared missing in action and his remains were never recovered. In 1947, the American Grave Registration Service discovered four sets of remains in a common grave near Kyunpobin, Burma, recognized by local witnesses as coming from a crash involving American forces. However, due to the inability to identify the remains at that time, they were buried as Unknowns in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. Years later, in 2020, a request from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency prompted the disinterment of these remains for analysis. Experts employed various scientific methods, including dental analysis, anthropological studies, and mitochondrial DNA analysis, leading to the identification of Carlin's remains. His family received a comprehensive briefing from the Defense Department about the identification process. Carlin's name had been inscribed on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines, where a rosette will now signify that he has been accounted for. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, established in 2015, is committed to locating and identifying personnel missing from past conflicts such as this one. Henry J. Carlin's remains are scheduled to be interred at Arlington National Cemetery in the spring of the following year, bringing closure to a long and honored service in the U.S. military.