Remains of Pennsylvania airman who died in WWII identified

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - Military authorities have announced the identification of remains of a Pennsylvania airman and two other servicemen who died in Europe during World War II.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Thursday that 19-year-old Air Forces Sgt. Vernon L. Hamilton of Monongahela was accounted for last month.

On March 21, 1945, Hamilton's A-26B was hit by anti-aircraft fire and went missing while trying to obstruct German troop movements in preparation for the Allied crossing of the Rhine River two days later.

In 2016, a German researcher reported a crash site in a horse paddock in Hulsten-Reken, Germany, and scientists used DNA analysis, dental and anthropological analysis and other evidence to identify Hamilton's remains.

The pilot, 2nd Lt. Lynn W. Hadfield, and another crewman, Sgt. John Kalausich, were also accounted for.