Remains of World War II Soldier to be buried in McGehee, Arkansas

Courtesy Photo | The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Ralph D. Kolb, an Airman killed during World War II, were interred June 14 in McGehee, Arkansas. Kolb was an assistant radio operator serving aboard a B-24 Liberator bomber Aug. 1, 1943, when it crashed 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.  

FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, UNITED STATES

06.16.2023

Story by Fonda Bock 

U.S. Army Human Resources Command

FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Ralph D. Kolb, an Airman killed during World War II, will be interred June 14, at McGehee Cemetery, McGehee, Arkansas. Griffin-Culpepper Funeral Services, McGehee, will perform graveside services preceding the interment.

A native of McGehee, Kolb was an assistant radio operator assigned to the 343rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force. He was serving aboard a B-24 Liberator bomber Aug. 1, 1943, when it crashed 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 could not 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. Kolb was 19 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 were 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.

Kolb was accounted for by the DPAA Sept. 14, 2022, after his remains were identified using circumstantial evidence as well as anthropological, mitochondrial DNA, and Y chromosome 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 Staff Sgt. Kolb, go to: https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3165336/airman-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-kolb-r/

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 Griffin-Culpepper Funeral Services, [phone].


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• Date Taken: 06.16.2023
• Date Posted: 06.16.2023 11:11
• Story ID: 447400
• Location: FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US