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A firing party from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) fires 3-rifle volleys as part of military funeral honors for U.S. Army Air Force 2nd Lt. Francis Callahan in Section 68 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. Callahan was killed during WWII at age 22.
From a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) press release:
In spring 1944, Callahan was assigned to the 732nd Bombardment Squadron, 453rd Bombardment Group, 2nd Combat Bomb Wing, 2nd Air Division, 8th Air Force in the European Theater. During a bombing mission on April 8 in Brunswick, Germany, Callahan was killed in action when his plane was shot down by enemy fighter aircraft fire. Airmen aboard another aircraft flying in formation with Little Joe (the B-24H “Liberator” Callahan was the navigator for) did not report seeing any crewmembers exiting the aircraft before it crashed in the vicinity of Salzwedel. The crash site could not be located by Allied forces during the war and the remains for all ten crewmembers (including Callahan) were unaccounted for following the war.
Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) began investigating the numerous bomber losses in the Salzwedel and Wistedt areas of Germany as part of their task to search for and recover fallen American personnel in the European Theater. German Forces had maintained accurate documentation of American aircraft shoot-downs, with several reports indicating B-24s crashing in the area. However, AGRC was unable to associate any of these reports with Little Joe or locate any crash or burial sites associated with the loss.
In 2015, an independent research group, Missing Allied Air Crew Research Team (MAACRT), contacted DPAA historians with new information related to a possible crash site near Wistedt, Germany. Investigators located the crash site and recovered various pieces of wreckage along with possible osseous remains which were transferred to the DPAA laboratory for analysis and identification. At the time, no matches were made, and further investigations were scheduled.
Between 2021 and 2023, DPAA investigators returned to the crash site and recovered all possible remaining osseous remains and life support equipment and returned it to the DPAA laboratory.
Anthropological and dental analysis by scientists at DPAA and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis by scientists at the Armed Forces Medical Examiners System were used to finally identify Callahan’s remains.
Callahan was officially accounted for on June 20, 2024, over 80 years since his death. Callahan’s niece, Kathleen Kaminski, received the U.S. flag from his funeral service.
(U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery / released)
| Date Taken: | 02.24.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.26.2025 10:02 |
| Photo ID: | 8886672 |
| VIRIN: | 250224-A-IW468-5147 |
| Resolution: | 8256x5504 |
| Size: | 22.62 MB |
| Location: | ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 2 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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