Fallen Hero Coming Home – 79 Years Later!
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Melvin B. Meyer, 25, of Pattonville Missouri, killed during World War II, was accounted for on 9-SEP 2022. Melvin Meyer was killed when the B-17G Flying Fortress Bomber he was on was shot down near Leipzig, Germany on 29-MAY 1944. Six of the 10 crew members escaped the plane before it crashed, but four others, including Meyer, were killed. Meyer was a bombardier assigned to the 569th Bombardment Squadron.
Bodies recovered from the crash were believed to have been buried in a local cemetery, the U.S. Defense Department reported. The American Graves Registration Command, which was charged with recovering the remains of fallen service members in Europe, found the remains of a crew member buried in the cemetery in 1946. The agency said it could not investigate further because the remains were found in East Germany, which was controlled by the Soviet Union. Meyer was declared non-recoverable by the military in 1953.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) says an investigation team recovered evidence of a crash site in July 2012. The site was later excavated in July and August 2019. Remains were sent to a DPAA lab for testing. Meyer’s remains were officially identified in September 2022.
A graveside service will be held at Jefferson Barracks on May 26. He will be interred shortly after.
