History
Remains of soldier shot down over Germany in 1944 to be buried this week in Kentucky
Stars and Stripes
April 20, 2025
U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Joe A. De Jarnette, circled top left, with the crew of his B-24H “Liberator.” (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Joe A. De Jarnette, who was killed in action during World War II, will be interred Saturday at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Erlanger, Ky.
He will be buried with full military honors.
De Jarnette, a native of Fort Thomas, Ky., was assigned to the 732nd Bombardment Squadron, 453rd Bombardment Group, 2nd Combat Bomb Wing, 2nd Air Division, 8th Air Force. He was killed in action April 8, 1944, at age 24, after the B-24H “Liberator” he was flying was shot down by enemy fighter aircraft during a bombing mission to Brunswick, Germany.
U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Joe A. De Jarnette was assigned to the 732nd Bombardment Squadron, 453rd Bombardment Group, 2nd Combat Bomb Wing, 2nd Air Division, 8th Air Force. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)
De Jarnette was accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on June 20, 2024, after his remains were excavated from the crash site between 2021 and 2023 for laboratory analysis and identification.
De Jarnette’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
About 81,000 American troops from past conflicts remain unaccounted for, according to the DPAA.