WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that archaeologists were among an international and multi-institutional endeavor that helped recover the remains of a World War II bombardier whose plane crashed off the coast of Denmark. 2nd Lt. Robert T. McCollum and others from the 565th Bombardment Squadron were flying in a B24-J Liberator when their aircraft accidentally struck another plane and went down in the Baltic Sea on June 10, 1944. In 1948, the American Graves Registration Command, the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, investigated the crash, but were unable to find any of the missing crewmen. However, the wreck site was located in 2019 by Danish divers when a .50 caliber machine gun with a serial number that partially matched one from the guns on McCollum’s aircraft was identified. An initial survey found possible human remains as well as enough evidence to recommend the site for an archaeological excavation. Over the past five years, several organizations including the DPAA, the Royal Danish Navy, the Langelands Museum, the University of Delaware, Project Recover, Trident Archäologie, and Wessex Archaeology helped investigate the site. The team was able to retrieve McCollum’s remains, which were identified using dental records and DNA tests. McCollum’s name is recorded on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for. To read about excavations to identify the remains of another American pilot whose aircraft crashed during WWII, go to "Letter from Normandy: The Legacy of the Longest Day."
