People gather at the funeral of Dan Winstead Corson, a World War II pilot who was killed in action 82 years ago. He was finally returned to his hometown of Middletown, Ohio and buried with full military honors. (VFW Department of Ohio/Facebook)
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (Tribune News Service) — U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Dan Winstead Corson was given a hero’s homecoming. The World War II pilot, who was killed in action 82 years ago, was buried with full military honors Wednesday morning in Woodside Cemetery. He was 27 when he was killed.
Ralph Reynolds, VFW Department of Ohio POW/MIA Chairman, one of the many speakers, called Corson “an American hero who finished his service and returned home.”
Later Reynolds added: “His legacy does not stop today. He was a worthy man who gave his best.”
Those who drove into Woodside passed under an American flag that was draped by a Middletown Division of Fire truck, then on cemetery roads lined with flags, typically used on Memorial Day.
A three-piece orchestra, Collegium Cincinnati, played before the service; there was a single-plane fly-over; all veterans were invited to salute the casket; there was a 21-gun salute; and the playing of Taps.
The burial was attended by more than 100 Middletown residents, dignitaries and veterans from surrounding communities. Lt. Corson’s nephew and namesake, Dan Corson, one of his few living relatives, said he was overwhelmed by the large crowd. “It says a lot about the citizens here,” he said. “There is something about World War II and the ‘Greatest Generation’ that hits home with people. It defined a generation in our country’s history. It was a way to honor not just my uncle but that generation.”
U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Dan Winstead Corson, 27, of Middletown, Ohio, was assigned to the 401st Bombardment Squadron, 91st Bombardment Group, Eighth Air Force. He was killed in action on Dec. 20, 1942. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
Middletown historian Sam Ashworth, who has closely followed Corson’s story, said it was “an emotional day” because the family finally has this “mystery resolved.”
Dan Corson said he has sent more than 20 years researching the details of his uncle’s death and if it was possible to identify his remains and return them to Middletown.
The goal finally was completed Wednesday due to the “miracle of the Internet” that assisted in the research and connected him to the right authorities who directed him to three graves that contained seven U.S. servicemen, according to Corson.
Lt. Corson was assigned to the 401st Bombardment Squadron, 91st Bombardment Group, Eighth Air Force. He was killed in action on Dec. 20, 1942, after the B-17F “Flying Fortress,” he was co-piloting was struck by anti-aircraft fire during a bombing raid on a German aircraft factory at Romilly-sur-Seine, France.
He was accounted for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on Sept. 22, 2023 after his remains were exhumed in March 2019 from Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France, for laboratory analysis and identification, according to the military. After the funeral, Dan Corson slowly walked up a hill at Woodside where Lt. Corson’s parents, Dan and Nell, are buried. He had a message for them.
“I want to tell them he’s home,” he said.
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