World War II Airman’s Remains Recovered

The remains of Sgt. John P. Bonnassiolle, a crewman in a B-24J bomber that went down over Germany in 1944, have been identified and returned to his family, Defense Department officials have announced. Bonnassiolle, a native of Oakland, Calif., will be buried Tuesday in San Francisco with full military honors. He was a one of 10 airmen lost on April 29, 1944, when their B-24 crashed near the town of East Meitze, Germany, north of Hannover, during a bombing raid against Berlin. DOD-led excavations of the crash site in 2005 and 2007 recovered remains and crew-related equipment, including Bonnassiolle’s identification tags, that led to his identification. (DOD release)