https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001J4t9REAR

On July 28, 2010, the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO, now DPAA) identified the remains of Second Lieutenant Robert R. Bishop, missing from World War II.

Second Lieutenant Bishop entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Illinois and served in the 578th Bombardment Squadron, 392nd Bombardment Group (Heavy). On April 29, 1944, he was the pilot of a B-24J Liberator (serial number 42-110105) during a bombing mission against the Friedrichstrasse Railroad Station in Berlin, Germany. This Liberator was shot down by enemy fighters before it reached the target. It crashed near East Meitze, Germany, killing 2LT Bishop and the other nine crew members aboard. The bomb load exploded after the crash and scattered the wreckage. Following the war, two of bodies that had been buried nearby were recovered and identified, but 2LT Bishop remained missing until 2003, when a German civilian relocated the crash site and alerted U.S. authorities. In 2005, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) team excavated the site and recovered human remains and military equipment. Scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification laboratory used modern forensic tools and DNA analyses to eventually identify 2LT Bishop from among the recovered remains.

Second Lieutenant Bishop is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten.

https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/601668/airman-missing-in-action-from-wwii-identified-bishop/

Press Release | Sept. 13, 2010

Airman Missing In Action From WWII Identified (Bishop)

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is 2nd Lt. Robert R. Bishop, U.S. Army Air Forces, of Joliet, Ill. He will be buried Saturday in Rockford, Ill.

On April 29, 1944, he was aboard a B-24J Liberator with nine other crewmen. They failed to return following a bombing mission over Berlin. German documents captured after the war established the aircraft had crashed near the town of East Meitze, Germany, north of Hannover. German forces removed the remains of three crewmen from the site and buried them in a cemetery in Hannover.

In 1946, The U.S. Army’s Graves Registration Command located the remains of the men buried in Hannover and reburied them at the U.S. Military Cemetery at Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium, after confirming the identities of two of the three.

In 2003, a German citizen began excavating the East Meitze crash site and turned over human remains to U.S. officials. A Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team traveled to excavate the crash site in 2005 and 2007, recovering additional remains and crew-related equipment—including identification tags for Bishop and three other crew members.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA – which matched that of Bishop’s nephew -- in the identification of his remains.

More than 400,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II died. At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover, identify and bury approximately 79,000 as known persons. Today, more than 72,000 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the conflict.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to

account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site at

http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.

https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/600998/aircrew-missing-in-action-from-wwii-identified-bishop-digman-hess-luce-karaso-m/

Press Release | Oct. 20, 2011

Aircrew Missing In Action From WWII Identified (Bishop, Digman, Hess, Luce, Karaso, McDonald, Bonnassiolle, Blong, Chiodo, Harringer)

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of 10 U.S. servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Robert R. Bishop, 24, of Joliet, Ill.; 2nd Lt. Thomas Digman, Jr., 24, of Pittsburgh; 2nd Lt. Donald W. Hess, 28, of Sioux City, Iowa; 2nd Lt. Arthur W. Luce, 24, of Fort Bragg, Calif.; Staff Sgt. Joseph J. Karaso, 21, of Philadelphia; Staff Sgt. Ralph L. McDonald, 22, of East Point, Ga.; Sgt. John P. Bonnassiolle, 20, of Oakland, Calif.; Sgt. James T. Blong, 19, of Port Washington, Wis.; Sgt. Michael A. Chiodo, 22, of Cleveland; and Sgt. John J. Harringer, Jr., 20, of South Bend, Ind., will be buried as a group, in a single casket representing the entire crew, on Oct. 26, in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Hess and Karaso will be interred individually at the same ceremony in Arlington.

On April 29, 1944, the 10 airmen were ordered to carry out a bombing mission over Berlin, Germany, in their B-24J Liberator aircraft, piloted by Bishop and Luce. German documents captured after the war noted that the aircraft crashed near the town of East Meitze, Germany, and there were no survivors. German forces buried the remains of Digman, Blong, and one unknown airman in a cemetery near Hannover, Germany, around the time of the crash. In 1946, the Army Graves Registration Service exhumed the remains of the three individuals for identification and reburied them in a U.S. Military Cemetery in Condroz, Belgium.

In 2003, a German national located the site of the crash and recovered human remains, which were turned over to U.S. officials. In 2005, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) team excavated the crash site and gathered additional human remains, military equipment, and metal identification tags for Bishop, Blong, Bonnassiolle, and Harringer. The team also recovered a class ring with the initials AWL – presumably belonging to Luce. In 2007, a JPAC team completed the site excavation and found additional evidence that helped to confirm the identity of the crew.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used dental analysis and mitochondrial DNA—which matched that of some of the crewmembers’ families—in the identification of their remains.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died. At the end of the war, the U.S. government was unable to recover and identify approximately 79,000 Americans. Today, more than 73,000 remain unaccounted-for from the conflict.

For additional information on

the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit

the DPMO web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1420.

Robert R Bishop