A 22-year-old soldier was one of eight American airmen who vanished during a 1944 crash when their plane went “spinning down into the sea” during World War II, federal officials said.
His remains were never accounted for — until now.
A 2019 discovery by Danish divers found the wreck in the depth of the Baltic Sea, leading excavators to later pull evidence and human remains. This led to the identification of Lt. Robert T. McCollum of Cleveland, Ohio, decades after he went missing in action, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said in a Feb. 26 news release.
McCollum was onboard a B-24J “Liberator” bomber on June 20, 1944, when the plane crashed with another aircraft in the formation, the agency said. The pilot and co-pilot survived but were taken as prisoners of war while the eight others vanished, officials said.
A Finding of Death was issued on June 21, 1945, and his remains weren’t discovered for decades.
Then, Danish divers made the discovery in 2019 that opened the door to identifying the missing soldiers, according to the news release.
They alerted the Royal Danish Navy to a World War II-era aircraft found in the Baltic Sea near where McCollum’s plane had crashed 75 years prior.
At the site of the wreck was a machine gun with a damaged serial number, which officials partially matched to the guns on McCollum’s aircraft, the agency said.
The site was excavated in 2022, the agency said, and remains, material evidence and ID tags of two crew members were recovered.
Using a variety of methods including dental and anthropological analysis and DNA analysis, McCollum’s remains were identified on Dec. 10, officials said.
The soldier’s remains are set to be buried in San Jose, California, according to the news release.
McCollum served in the 565th Bombardment Squadron, 389th Bombardment Group, 2nd Combat Bomb Wing, 2nd Air Division, 8th Air Force, in the European theater, officials said in the news release.
