Defense Department officials announced that they identified the remains of 12 airmen missing in the Pacific theater since World War II. They are 1st Lt. Jack E. Volz, 21, of Indianapolis; 2nd Lt. Regis E. Dietz, 28, Pittsburgh; 2nd Lt. Edward J. Lake, 25, Brooklyn, N.Y.; 2nd Lt. Martin P. Murray, 21, Lowell, Mass.; 2nd Lt. William J. Shryock, 23, Gary, Ind.; TSgt. Robert S. Wren, 25, Seattle; TSgt. Hollis R. Smith, 22, Cove, Ark.; SSgt. Berthold A. Chastain, 27, Dalton, Ga.; SSgt. Clyde L. Green, 24, Erie, Pa.; SSgt. Frederick E. Harris, 23, Medford, Mass.; SSgt. Claude A. Ray, 24, Coffeyville, Kan.; and SSgt. Claude G. Tyler, 24, Landover, Md. These airmen were the crew of a B-24D Liberator that took off from Port Moresby, New Guinea, on a reconnaissance mission on Oct. 27, 1943. The aircraft never returned. A DOD team located the crash site in 2003 in New Guinea and recovered their remains in 2007. Remains of the entire crew were buried together with full military honors on Aug. 4 at Arlington National Cemetery.
The defense intelligence community has tried three times in the past decade to build a “common intelligence picture”—a single data stream providing the information that commanders need to make decisions about the battlefield. The first two attempts failed. But officials say things are different today.