(Tribune News Service) — A World War II pilot who went missing in action is returning home to Charlotte — nearly 80 years later.

Fred L. Brewer Jr. — a pilot who flew in the European Theater with the Tuskegee Airmen — disappeared with his plane when it crashed over the Udine area of Italy in 1944, the U.S. Army said.

He was 23.

Now, thanks to DNA testing, Brewer has been identified, and his remains will be buried at Salisbury National Cemetery.

On Oct. 19, 1944, Brewer — a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Forces — left the Ramitelli Air Base in Italy with 56 others. Heavy clouds set in while the bomber group was on its way to Regensburg, Germany. Brewer tried to escape atop them, but the engine on his P-51C Mustang, Traveling Light, stalled over Austria, according to previous reporting from The Charlotte Observer. Other fighters reported the cockpit’s cover, or canopy, opened, but Brewer never ejected.

Ten days later, he was declared dead.

Plane wreckage and Brewer’s remains found

In 2011, researchers found airplane wreckage used to create a memorial in Moggio Udinese for Americans who died during World War II. Nearby, they also found Brewer’s remains — which were still unidentified — in a civilian cemetery. He was buried there, in northeast Italy, in 1946, according to the U.S. Army.

The Army moved Brewer’s remains to the Florence American Cemetery in Italy. They stayed buried until 2022, when scientists again exhumed him for more advanced forensic analysis.

On Aug. 10, 2023, officials confirmed the remains were Brewer’s. Now, his name — recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery — will be accompanied by a rosette indicating he has been accounted for.

Back home, in Charlotte, Grier Funeral Service will give a graveside service before Brewer is again buried on Dec. 6.

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