WWII Pilot's Remains Returning Home to Wichita After 80 Years

A 24-year-old U.S. Army pilot killed during World War II will finally return home to Wichita, Kansas, after being accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Lt. Herbert G. Tennyson, assigned to the U.S. Army's Air Forces Bombardment Squadron, 90th Bombardment Group, 5th Air Force, was believed to have been killed on March 11, 1944.

Tennyson was piloting a B-24D Liberator named "Heaven Can Wait" when it departed Nadzab Strip #1, Papua New Guinea, on a bombing mission against enemy positions. The plane was struck by anti-aircraft gunfire, causing the explosives to ignite, and crashed into the water. Despite efforts to locate survivors, none were found.

Following the war, the American Graves Registration Service conducted searches for missing U.S. military members but were unable to find Tennyson and his crew. Decades later, the family of another "Heaven Can Wait" crew member led a search that discovered the wreckage in Hansa Bay in October 2017. Divers recovered human skeletal remains, life support equipment, and identification tags, which were sent to a DPAA lab for examination.

Scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence, to identify Tennyson's remains. His name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, and a rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Tennyson will be buried in Wichita, Kansas, on a date yet to be determined. His return home comes as a significant milestone, as approximately 215,000 Kansans served in WWII, with around 5,478 killed in action.