ARLINGTON, Va. – Sent off by a three-rifle volley, aAn Army Air Forces radio operator sergeant missing in action after his B-24D was being shot down during World War II was finally laid to rest Monday at Arlington National Cemetery Monday as part of the Defense Department's effort to account for missing Americans.
A horse-drawn caisson carried Tech. Sgt. Charles L. Johnston's casket to Section 60 of the cemetery as the U.S. Army Bband, "Pershing's Own," played. Johnston was buried with full military honors, in a ceremony conducted by the Army's 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, Arlington's "Old Guard."
Johnston's cousin, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Air Force major general William J. Mall Jr., received the American flag that had draped the casket as a bugler played "Taps."
Johnston, 20 in April 1944 at the time, was on the crew of a radio operator on "Hot Garters," of a plane in the 321st Bombardment Squadron when the bomber was brought down by anti-aircraft fire over New Guinea in April 1944.
The Air Force was still part of the United States Army at the time Johnston served. It was formed as a separate branch three years later under the National Security Act.
Johnston's remains were among those of eight crew members who were was identified by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command after wreckage of the plane was found in 2001. The command, a Pentagon joint task force with a mission to account for Americans listed as prisoners of war or missing in action from all past wars and conflicts, announced Feb. 23 that the remains had now been accounted for and were being returned to their families. The task force used DNA matched to Johnston's first cousins to make his identification.
The Department of Defense accounts for approximately 80 POWs or soldiers missing in action each year.
Former Defense Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel reorganized the command's operation in this past January, folding three Pentagon offices tasked with accounting for missing personnel into one unit, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Its goal is to increase the number of personnel accounted for, said Lt. Col. Melinda Morgan.
The Defense Department accounts for approximately 80 POWs or MIAs each year. More than 83,000 POWs/MIAs are unaccounted for, with 73,000 from World War II alone, Morgan said.
To locate and repatriate remains, the POW/MIA Accounting Agency first uses the "puzzle pieces" of historical analysis and research to find missing service members. From there, the researchers often use DNA analysis or dental records to identify individuals. They work closely with foreign governments to get the remains shipped back to the United States, said Morgan.
The accounting unit found Johnston's remains in the Madong province of Papua, New Guinea.
Johnston's cousin, retired Air Force major general William J. Mall, Jr., received the American flag as a bugler played "Taps." A service at the nearby Old Post Chapel preceded the burial.
A group burial service for all the personnel of "Hot Garters" will be held March 18 at Arlington on March 18th, said cemetery spokesman Melissa Bohan.
