A lone F-15C Eagle fighter jet flew over Arlington at noon today to honor eight airmen killed during World War II.
The crew’s B-24 Liberator bomber was shot down over the Republic of Palau on Sept. 1, 1944. For 60 years, the wreckage — and the crew’s remains — were lost to the sea.
Then, in 2004, the BentProp Project, a California-based group dedicated to finding military wreck sites in the western Pacific, located the lost bomber.
The remains of the eight service members recovered from the crash site were buried together today in Arlington National Cemetery’s section 60.
One of the crew members was navigator Second Lt. Frank J. Arhar, who was just two days shy of his 22nd birthday when the plane went down.
“To at least know that they found him and he’ll be buried and we can have peace… it means a lot to us,” Arhar’s younger sister, Theresa, told the Johnstown, Pa. Tribune Democrat.