History
Remains of Army Air Forces soldier killed in WWII to be interred Friday in San Diego
Stars and Stripes
July 11, 2024
The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. Robert Allen, killed during World War II, will be interred Friday at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. Robert Allen, killed during World War II, will be interred Friday at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego.
Allen, a native of Oakland, Calif., was assigned to the 860th Bombardment Squadron, 493rd Bombardment Group in Europe. He was killed in action Aug. 18, 1944, at age 20. The B-24H “Liberator” on which he was serving was struck by anti-aircraft fire following a bombing raid on a German position near Roye, France.
Allen was accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on Sept. 19, 2023, after remains were excavated from a site near Boussicourt, France, in 2018, for laboratory analysis.
Allen will be buried with full military honors.
About 72,000 World War II troops remain unaccounted for, along with roughly 10,000 more from all the conflicts since, according the Department of Defense. Analysts believe about half of those are recoverable.
The crew of the B-24. U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. Robert Allen was the radio operator. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)