Missing WWII Pennsylvania Airman identified
(WHTM) – A lost World War II Airman from Pennsylvania has been found.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. Paul F. Eshelman Jr., 21, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, killed during World War II, was accounted for Sept. 27, 2023.
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While he was accounted for in September 2023, the release of his information was delayed until his family received a full briefing on his identification.
According to DPAA, Eshelman was assigned to the 344th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force, in the summer of 1943.
Eshelman was the radio operator onboard a B-24 Liberator bomber “Tagalong” on Aug. 1, 1943, during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of Bucharest, Romania.
“Tagalong” was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed. His remains could not be identified following the war and joined others buried as Unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.
World War II soldier from Pennsylvania now accounted for
After the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel, disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification. Eighty unknowns from the cemetery remained unidentified and were permanently interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, both in Belgium.
Then In 2017, DPAA began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated with unaccounted-for airmen from Operation TIDAL WAVE and sent them to the DPAA Laboratory for examination and identification.
DPAA scientists were able to identify Eshelman’s remains using dental and anthropological analysis, aided by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis by scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System.
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Eshelman 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 WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Eshelman will be buried in Allison Park, Pennsylvania, on a date to be determined.
To learn more about the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) mission, click here. You can also follow them on Facebook or Linkedin.
To view Eshelman’s personnel file, click here.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490.
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DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission and to the U.S. Army Regional Mortuary-Europe/Africa for their partnership in this mission.
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