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Boston Globe
3 days ago
- General
- Boston Globe
Remains of Somerville airman killed during WWII returned to Massachusetts 80 years later
Lord and members of his crew were reported missing in action. In 2018, investigators combing through a suspected crash site recovered ossified remains that were later confirmed to be Lord's, according to the Defense Department's POW/MIA Accounting Agency. A Southwest flight carrying Lord's remains and captained by his great-nephew, Charles Axtell landed at Logan Airport in Boston on Thursday afternoon. Advertisement 'I'm not sure if I can put it into words what it means to be flying him home,' his great nephew, Charles Axtell, said by email before the flight. 'It has been a special journey the whole way.' Lord's remains were also escorted by his great-great niece, Space Force 2nd Lieutenant Katherine Hendl. Lord's remains were taken to Bedford Funeral Home and will be interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett on June 7, alongside Lord's parents and his sister Ruth, his family said in an Axtell, who worked on the excavation that recovered Lord's remains, said that returning his great-uncle's remains to his home state represents 'the end of 80 years of torment.' Advertisement 'Now we know and we have the ability to give hope to the other 80,000+ MIA's since WW2,' said Axtell, who lives in New Hampshire. " . 'We also are reminding our present day armed forces that we do not quit looking for them! This is closure for our family but I think every veteran and military family member knows in their hearts what it means.' Lord's family still has letters he wrote while overseas. Axtell said Lord would end his letters writing, 'Remember me to all' and 'Loads of Love.' 'In today's world that makes me smile, knowing that all anyone wants is to be remembered,' Axtell said. Charles Axtell said his great-uncle, Army Air Forces Staff Sergeant Loring E. Lord, signed his letters home with "remember me to all" and "loads of love." Charles Axtell Axtell retired from the Air Force in 2015 and later joined Southwest Airlines. 'We are honored to support Captain Axtell as he transports his great uncle to his final resting place,' Chris Perry, a spokesperson for Southwest, said by email. Lord was officially accounted for on Sept. 18, 2024, according to There was no indication that anyone escaped the plane crash, which happened less than two months before victory was declared in Europe on May 8, 1945, the agency said. An article in the Boston Traveler on Feb. 23, 1946, reported that Lord, a graduate of Somerville High School who worked at Pratt & Whitney, had been listed as missing in action since March 21, 1945, while on his 31st mission. He entered the Army on Oct. 10, 1941, and received the Air Medal, Silver Star, and Purple Heart, the newspaper reported. Lord's family said he was engaged to be married at the time of his death. Advertisement U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Loring E. Lord of Somerville was killed when his plane was shot down in Germany in March 1945. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency After the war ended, the American Graves Registration Command began investigating and recovering the remains of missing US service members in the European Theater. In 1949, investigators visited villages between Velen and Dülmen, including Reken, where they met a former police chief who recalled seeing an American plane crash after one of its wings was shot off, according to the accounting agency. Heinrich Mels reported that the German military secured the crash site and buried several airmen at a local cemetery, the agency said. The remains were exhumed in April 1945 when US forces occupied the town and were identified as crew members from Lord's aircraft, the agency said. Investigators later located several aircraft parts at the crash scene, but no other remains were located. Decades later, in 2014, Adolf Hagedorn, a German researcher, reported another possible crash site to the accounting agency. In 2018, after several recovery missions, investigators with the agency located 'identification media' for one of Lord's crew members, as well as ossified remains, during an excavation of the site. The remains were sent to the agency's laboratory, where scientists were able to identify them as Lord's based on anthropological analysis and circumstantial evidence, as well as mitochondrial DNA and mitochondrial genome sequence analysis, according to the agency. Nick Stoico can be reached at
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Navy fires commander of Colorado-based Information Operations Command
Navy Cmdr. Christopher Johnson was relieved on Thursday as commanding officer of Navy Information Operations Command (NIOC) Colorado, the service has announced. Officially, Johnson was fired 'due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command,' a Navy news release says. No specific information about why he was relieved has been publicly released. 'The Navy maintains the highest standards for commanding officers and holds them accountable when those standards are not met,' the news release says. All of the military branches use the euphemism 'loss of confidence' to avoid providing the exact reasons why commanding officers and senior enlisted leaders. The vague phrase covers all sorts of reasons, including problems at work and personal issues. Johnson, who assumed command at NIOC Colorado in May 2023, has been temporarily reassigned to U.S. Fleet Cyber Command. He was commissioned through Officer Candidate School and later completed two deployments in support of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, according to his Navy biography. His military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and various campaign, unit and service awards. Those 'Hegseth bodyguards' are actually there for the Air Force's 'Doomsday' plane Army wants junior officers to fix quality-of-life issues that drive soldiers out '100% OPSEC' apparently means texting military plans to a reporter Ranger School's new fitness test is tougher than ever, but nixes sit-ups This photo of Air Force special ops pool training is chaos. There's a reason for that.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Search to be launched for Air Force jet that carried Muncie pilot to his death in 1968
MUNCIE, Ind. — It has been 57 years since a B-52 bomber carrying eight Air Force personnel crashed into the Gulf of Mexico during a training mission. One of those on the jet when it disappeared — on Feb. 29, 1968 — was Thomas D. Childs, an Air Force captain from Muncie who had flown combat missions in Vietnam. Project Recover, a citizen-led nonprofit organization, is planning an extensive search of the Gulf — particularly near Matagorda Island, Texas, where the plane is believed to have gone down. (The Gulf of Mexico is now referred to as the Gulf of America by the U.S. government.) Organizers, using "the world's most sophisticated sonar technologies," hope to find the aircraft and "bring all eight of these Cold War aviators home to their loved ones," according to a news release. For more information on the recovery effort, and to donate to the cause, go to the project's website at B-52 Bomber Down. Thomas Childs was born in Muncie in September 1941, the son of James and Dorothy May Childs. He was a 1959 graduate of Center High School, where he was on the school's basketball team, and a 1963 graduate of Ball State University, where he earned a degree in accounting. He entered the Air Force through an ROTC commission earned at Ball State. As a pilot in Vietnam, he had flown 19 combat missions, earning the Air Medal. Childs was listed as "navigator-instructor" on the February 1968 training flight that was to involve a "simulated bombing drop." The flight had departed Carswell Air Force Base in Texas. There were apparently no witnesses to the crash. Efforts by the Coast Guard and the Air Force to find the jet were unsuccessful. Childs was survived by his wife, Karin, and their infant daughter, Tiffany, who would be raised in her mother's home state of Texas. Childs' parents lived in the southeastern Delaware County community of Mount Pleasant, and a memorial service was held at Pleasant Hills Baptist Church a month after the crash. His father, James, died in 1980, and his mother, Dorothy, died six years later. Their tombstone, at Elm Ridge Memorial Park, also bears their son's name and the dates of his birth and when he was "lost in flight." Thomas Childs' brothers, Larry and Norman, are also deceased. Douglas Walker is a news reporter for The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@ This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Group to search for crashed military jet that carried Muncie pilot
