A U.S. Army Air Force Lieutenant from Dayton, Ohio — killed during World War II — is coming home.
First Lt. Howard L. Dickson was 30-years-old in the summer of 1943. He was a gunner in the 328th Bombardment Squadron that was shot down on August 1 of that year while on a mission north of Bucharest, Romania.
Dickson’s remains couldn’t be identified at the time and he was buried there in a civilian and military cemetery.
After the war, the remains of Dickson and other U.S. military personnel were disinterred and taken to American cemeteries in Belgium.
There they remained — unidentified — until 2017 when they were exhumed and examined by scientists at an Air Force Base in Nebraska.
Scientists at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) say they identified Dickson’s remains by using anthropological analysis, along with circumstantial evidence.
Scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System also joined the effort by using “mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.”
Dickson will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
