The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) today announced three airmen missing in action (MIA) since World War II.

The trio of U.S. Army Air Force airmen, 2nd Lt. David J. Nelson, Tech. Sgt. Henry F. Kortebein, and Tech. Sgt. Blake A. Treece Jr., are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

According to the Pentagon, on August 8, 1944, Nelson, Kortebein and Treece departed an allied air base in England in their B-17G Flying Fortress with six other crewmen aboard. The aircraft was seen to explode and crash after being struck by enemy flak near the village of Lonlay l'Abbaye, south of Caen. The men were buried by locals, and remained unidentified until now.