Remains of WWII navigator identified after 80 years

SAVANNAH, Ga. —

Missing for 81 years, 2nd Lt. Milton L. Hymes Jr., who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War II, is coming home.

His remains were identified through advanced scientific methods and material evidence. Advertisement

At just 22 years old, Hymes served as a navigator on a B-24J Liberator bomber with the Mighty Eighth Air Force. He lost his life during a bombing mission from Bungay, England, to Politz, Germany, where the Liberator crashed into an allied B-24J plane.

On a typical flight, the B-24J Liberator carried 10 soldiers at the time 2nd Lt. Hymes served. When the two planes collided on June 20, 1944, over the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark, the crash killed 17 soldiers. Three other soldiers became prisoners of war, according to documents from the museum.

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