Updated at 8:39 p.m., Friday, July 20, 2007
Remains of WWII pilot found in Koolaus to be buried
Associated Press
WESTVILLE, Ind. — A World War II Navy pilot whose remains were identified last year after being excavated from a mountainside crash site in Hawai'i will be buried Friday with full military honors.Ensign Harry "Bud" Warnke's plane crashed on June 15, 1944, in the Koolau Range on O'ahu as he was training in aerial dives. He was 23.
A few days after the fatal crash, a search team found wreckage from Warnke's plane on a mountain slope along with a shoe fragment buried at the site.
According to military reports from the time, items and remains from the wreckage were collected and buried at the site shortly before Warnke's unit left the island to support World War II efforts.
But Warnke remains weren't identified until last year after a team that included forensic scientists excavated the crash site and found them.
Warnke's cremated remains were returned to the family Thursday for burial Friday in the Westville grave site. Warnke's parents reserved the site for him after receiving the news in 1944 of his crash.
Several family members plan to attend the burial, including Warnke's sister, Myrtle Tice, 87, and Warnke's niece, Pat Turner of Westville, who said she knew her uncle only from photographs.
———
Information from: The News-Dispatch, http://www.michigancityin.com
