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July 26, 2013

Missing WWII Airman Identified, Will Be Buried with Family in New York

Missing WWII Airman Identified, Will Be Buried with Family in New York
1940 Census Dominick Licari with family
 Sgt. Dominick Licari was one of 9 children born to Italian immigrants Sam and Mary Licari. In 1942 at the age of 29 he was drafted. In March 1944 the plane he was in crashed into a mountainside in  Papua-New Guinea .

Sgt. Licari and others on the plane were declared missing and presumed dead. While the wreckage of the plane was later found, no remains were spotted until 2012 when bone fragments were unearthed at the crash site.

DNA samples provided by his brother August "Mort" Licari matched that of Sgt. Dominick Licari, who was 31 when he went missing. His remains and dog tag are being returned to family. After military declared him deceased in 1946,  his family erected a grave marker with his name on it at the family plot in Frankfort New York. It is there he will be buried alongside his parents and other siblings.

Sources:  
USA Today:Remains of WWII Airman from NY ID'd in S. Pacific
National Post:  Airman ID’d nearly 70 years after crashing into mountain during Second World War
Ancestry.com: 1940 Census Frankfurt, Herkimer Co. New York

1 comment:

Sonja Hunter said...

My cousin (twice removed) died similarly when his plane crashed into a mountain in Myanmar (Burma) during WWII. His mother never knew how he died. I would love to think that someday his remains might be repatriated also. I'm glad at least one family was able to bring one of theirs home.