Remains of WWII veteran Edward Pyle identified

(WJW) — The remains of an Alliance airman who served in World War II have been identified, more than 80 years after the man was killed in combat.

The remains of 31-year-old Air Force Staff Sgt. Edward K. Pyle was officially found March 14, according to a press release issued Monday by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. His family recently learned of his identification, a military spokesperson said.

Pyle was a member of the 436th Bombardment Squadron, 7th Bombardment Group. On December 1, 1943, he was aboard a B-24J Liberator bomber heading for Burma, now known as Myanmar.

Pyle's bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire, causing the left wing to catch fire, the statement said. Witnesses in another plane saw Pyle's bomber dive and disappear beneath the clouds, followed by three enemy planes.

The Liberator was not seen again and the remains of the crew were not found or identified after the war, according to the statement.

On Dec. 11 of that year, the government notified Pyle's parents, Harry and Claudine Pyle of Alliance, that he was missing in action, according to an excerpt from the Salem News shared by the agency.

Pyle graduated from Alliance High School and attended Mount Union University, according to the excerpt. He served as a gunner on the bomber.

In 1947, the American Grave Registration Service recovered the remains of eight people believed to be involved in the crash of a Liberator plane near Burma. Local witnesses said there were no survivors. Japanese forces asked villagers to bury the bodies in two large graves, according to the agency.

The remains could not be identified at the time. They were buried as unknown soldiers at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, according to the release.

In 2019, family members requested that the eight remains be exhumed, in an attempt to link them to “other unresolved losses in southern Burma,” the statement said.

Agency staff exhumed the remains in 2020 for tests, including mitochondrial DNA analysis. Agency scientists also used dental and anthropological records and examined other “circumstantial and physical evidence” to confirm Pyle's identity, the release said.

Pyle's name, which was recorded on the walls of the missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines, will soon be accompanied by a rosette, to show that he has been found, according to the press release.

He is expected to be buried in Michigan at a later date.