US Fighter Pilot Who Went Missing During World War II To Be Buried With Military Honours After His Body Uncovered In Austria

A US fighter pilot who went missing during World War 2 will be buried with military honours after his body was found in a heavily forested area in Austria.

Lieutenant Henry Donald Mitchell, 23, from the town of Harmon in the US state of Arkansas was reportedly flying in formation with other military pilots, but suddenly went missing near the Austrian municipality of Waldegg on 8th July, 1944.

His remains were only found in a shallow grave about 77 years later in a deeply wooded area in the municipality of Hohe Wand located in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, and will be buried with military honours in the city of Fayetteville in his homeland Arkansas this autumn (1st September).

Mitchell worked as a flight instructor in the Starnes Flying Service in the city of Conway just before the war and was piloting a Lockheed P-38 Lightning shortly before he crashed after a “flight sweep” with the 48th Fighter Wing to the city of Vienna in Austria in 1944.

Credit: Newsflash
US fighter pilot Henry Mitchell’s younger brother Bob Mitchell, 90, from the US state of Arkansas with a picture of the pilot.

According to local media, the 23-year-old man’s last known words were “Green Two, O.K.”, before he was listed as one of the 73,000 World War II missing servicemen by the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

However, his younger brother Robert ‘Bob’ Mitchell, aged 90, from the city of Fort Smith began a decade-long search to find the remains of his big brother in 1997.

Bob said in an interview: “And I thought man I’d really like to find out what happened to him.”

The quest for the late lieutenant began with the help of then-Congressman Asa Hutchinson who gave Robert his brother’s military records and put him in contact with the Austrian embassy in Washington and military historian Markus Reisner who was tracking down World War 2 aircraft in Austria.

Using U.S. military information provided by Robert and interviews with locals who recalled the crash, Reisner and his team found Henry Mitchell’s P-38 and remains on a game preserve in 2017.

Robert told 5News: “Well the landowner died, and his son now owns the land. We contacted him and he said well y’all can dig anywhere and whenever you want to you just can’t do it during deer season.”

According to the 90-year-old man, the landowner had “buried him [his brother] in a shallow grave to protect him from the wild animals.”

Robert was happy to finally receive answers regarding his brother’s final moments and said: “He was flying in formation with some other P-38s and all of a sudden the flight commander didn’t hear from him. And said ‘Green two’ that was his code number and he replied ‘green 2 O.K .’ then they didn’t hear from him anymore.”

He added: “And apparently, from what they’ve said there was some live World War II ammunition close to the crash site that had not been exploded. So, there was no fire on board so apparently, the plane was out of fuel.”

At the beginning of August, the Arkansas Congressional Delegation and the U.S. Department of POW/MIA Accounting Agency confirmed the identity of Lt. Mitchell’s remains and sent them back to his homeland.

The Austrian Embassy in Washington reported on their website: “The discovery of Lt. Mitchell’s remains is the result of a concerted effort on both sides of the Atlantic to retrieve the remains of this WWII veteran from Austria back to the U.S.”

A service including all military honours will take place at the Fayetteville National Cemetery at the beginning of autumn.

Credit: U.S. Marine Corps, Sgt. Melanye Martinez/Newsflash
The remains of US fighter pilot Henry Mitchel who was reported missing during World War 2 were discovered in Austria.

To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Georgina JadikovskaSub-Editor: James King, Agency:  Newsflash

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