The Defense Department has identified the remains of two airmen missing in action from the Korean War—Col. Douglas H. Hatfield of Shenandoah, Va., and Capt. Richard H. Simpson of Fairhaven, Mich. On April 12, 1951, Hatfield and Simpson were two of 11 crewmembers on a B-29 flying from Kadena AB, Okinawa, on a mission over North Korea. The bomber crashed following a strike by MiG-15s and only three crewmembers managed to bail out. One died in captivity and two were repatriated. In 1993, North Korea turned over 31 boxes of remains of US servicemen; four sets of remains from this group were identified as members of the B-29 crew. In 2000, a joint excavation recovered additional remains, including those subsequently identified as belonging to Hatfield and Simpson.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.