Detroit Soldier’s Remains from World War II Identified After 80 Years of Plane Crash

The remains of U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. John E. McLauchlen Jr., a World War II soldier from Detroit, have been identified 80 years after his plane was shot down on a bombing mission. McLauchlen, 25, was piloting a B-24J Liberator bomber on Dec. 1, 1943, when his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire while on a mission from Panagarh, India, to the Insein Railroad Yard north of Rangoon, Burma. The plane caught fire, entered a steep dive, and disappeared below the clouds. McLauchlen and his crew were not heard from again.

The remains of the crew were not recovered during the war and were declared missing in action. In 1947, the American Grave Registration Service (AGRS) recovered remains from a B-24 Liberator crash near Yodayadet, Burma. Despite being unable to identify the remains at the time, they were interred as unknowns in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

In October 2020, after a family request for disinterment, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) exhumed the remains and conducted analysis to identify them. Using anthropological analysis and mitochondrial DNA analysis, McLauchlen’s remains were finally identified on Jan. 25, 2024.

On July 8, 2024, McLauchlen will be laid to rest at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery in Kansas. Graveside services will be performed by the Belden-Larkin Funeral Home following the interment. This closure comes after 80 years of uncertainty and honors the sacrifice made by McLauchlen and his crew during World War II.