Airman comes home after 62 years

by Tech. Sgt. Andrew Caya and Staff Sgt. Stephanie Sawyer
914th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

9/19/2014 - NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, N.Y. -- ""We never expected it -- it's a miracle," said Mary May, as she watched the dignified arrival of her brother's remains, U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. William Irving Turner at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, New York, Sept. 18.

The Niagara Falls ARS Honor Guard conducted the arrival, and a military escort remained with Turner to his hometown of Coudersport, Pennsylvania.

"The most rewarding job we can have in the military is honoring the fallen," said Master Sgt. Lisa Sveda, superintendent of the Niagara Falls ARS Honor Guard.

According to the Department of Defense, on Nov. 22, 1952, a C-124 Globemaster aircraft crashed while en route to Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, from McChord Air Force Base, Washington, with 11 crew members and 41 passengers on board. DOD officials stated adverse weather prohibited immediate recovery attempts. In late November and early December 1952, they added, search parties were unable to locate and recover any of the service members.

On June 9, 2012, an Alaska National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crew spotted aircraft wreckage and debris during a training mission over the Colony Glacier, immediately west of Mount Gannett. Three days later, another Alaska Guard team landed at the site to photograph the area and found artifacts at the site that related to the wreckage of the C-124 Globemaster.

Later that month, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and Joint Task Force team conducted a recovery operation at the site and recommended that it continue to be monitored for possible future recovery operations. In 2013, additional artifacts were visible, and JPAC conducted further recovery operations.

Earlier this year, the Defense Department scientists from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used forensic tools and circumstantial evidence in the identification and recovery of 17 service members, including Turner.

The remaining personnel have yet to be recovered, officials said, and the crash site will continue to be monitored for possible future recovery.

The remains of the following service members have been recovered and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors:

Army Lt. Col. Lawrence S. Singleton; Army Pvts. James Green Jr. and Leonard A. Kittle; Marine Corps Maj. Earl J. Stearns; Navy Cmdr. Albert J. Seeboth; Air Force Cols. Noel E. Hoblit and Eugene Smith; Air Force Capt. Robert W. Turnbull; Air Force 1st Lts. Donald Sheda and William L. Turner; Air Force Tech. Sgt. Engolf W. Hagen; Air Force Staff Sgt. James H. Ray; Air Force Airman 1st Class Marion E. Hooton; Air Force Airmen 2nd Class Carroll R. Dyer, Thomas S. Lyons and Thomas C. Thigpen; and Air Force Airman 3rd Class Howard E. Martin.