GRAFTON, Wis. — A 26-year-old bomber pilot from Grafton, Wis. who was killed in combat during World War II has been accounted for, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
The agency, known as DPAA, strives to recover U.S. military personnel who were listed as either missing in action or prisoners of war in past conflicts.
U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Roy C. Harms was accounted for on Aug. 2, 2022.
According to DPAA, Harms was assigned to the 329th Bombardment Squadron, 93rd Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force in the summer of 1943. Harms was piloting a B-24 Liberator bomber when the plane was hit by enemy anti-aircraft guns and crashed near Bucharest, Romania. Harms and his crew were shot down during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest.
After the war ended, the American Graves Registration Command could not identify what was later learned to be the body of Harms. He was among 80 people who could not be identified from the Bolovan cemetery.
Scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis among other methods to finally ID Harms' remains.
Harms will be buried in Grafton. For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
