They lost their uncle in WWII. Now the pilot’s remains are coming home.

RP Members and Connections I thought this was a great article to share with the RP Nation. One of our missing veterans from WWII makes his way home.

There are 73,057 service members unaccounted for from World War II.

Lt. John Dean Armstrong of Hutchinson is no longer on that list, thanks to two of his nieces and their 13-year quest to find their uncle and bring his remains home.

Armstrong was a member of the American Volunteer Group known as the Flying Tigers who flew P-40 fighter planes for the Chinese air force in the fight against Japan.

He was killed during a training flight on Sept. 8, 1941, when he collided with another pilot’s aircraft. Armstrong was the first member of the Flying Tigers to die in World War II.

He was initially buried in the Airmen’s Cemetery at St. Luke’s Anglican Church in Toungoo, Burma, which is now Myanmar.

More than 63 years later, two of Armstrong’s nieces – Lynn Evans and Karen Beauprie – were sitting around the dinner table in Evans’ Texas home when they realized no one had claimed Armstrong’s Distinguished Flying Cross award.

Beauprie said once they had the award, they found out that Armstrong wasn’t buried in Hutchinson with their grandparents.

“That’s when we stepped off the plank and said, ‘Let’s get him home,’ ” Beauprie said. “We didn’t really have any idea what we were getting into. We just knew, for our grandparents’ sake, he should come home. It was wrong that he was left behind.” (Check out the rest of the article at the link above)