Remains of World War II Soldier to be buried in Avon Park, Florida

Courtesy Photo | The remains of World War II Soldier U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Pharis E. Weekley will be interred May 20, at Bougainvillea Cemetery, Avon Park, Florida. Weekley was navigating a B-24 Liberator aircraft when it crashed Aug. 1, 1943, after being hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. He was just 21 years old.  

FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, UNITED STATES

05.16.2023

Story by Fonda Bock 

U.S. Army Human Resources Command

FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of a Soldier killed during World War II will be interred May 20, at Bougainvillea Cemetery, Avon Park, Florida. Graveside services for U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Pharis E. Weekley will be performed by Stephenson-Nelson Funeral Home preceding the interment.

A native of Bradley Junction, Florida, Weekley, a navigator, was assigned to the 329th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force. He was navigating a B-24 Liberator aircraft when it crashed Aug. 1, 1943, after being hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania. His remains were unable to be identified following the war. Remains that could not be identified were buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania. Weekley was just 21 years old.

Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command – tasked with recovering fallen American personnel, disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification. More than 80 unknowns could not be identified and those remains were permanently interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, both in Belgium.

In 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated with unaccounted-for airmen from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses, sending the remains to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination and identification.

Weekley was accounted for by the DPAA July 12, 2022, after his remains were identified using circumstantial evidence as well as dental, anthropological and mitochondrial DNA, Y chromosome DNA and autosomal DNA analysis.

His name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site, in Impruneta, Italy, along with others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

For additional information about 2nd Lt. Weekley, go to: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3092979/airman-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-weekley-p/

To learn more about the Department of Defense’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or call [phone]/1169.

Media interested in covering and/or obtaining more information about the funeral and interment should contact the Army Casualty Office at [phone] and/or Stephenson-Nelson Funeral Home, 863-453-3101.


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• Date Taken: 05.16.2023
• Date Posted: 05.16.2023 08:18
• Story ID: 444827
• Location: FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US