The Arundel Bomber: Recovery mission declared 100 per cent success after final crew member, Technical Sergeant John Holoka Jr, is officially accounted for

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced last Monday that US Army Air Forces 1st Lt William B. Montgomery, 24, of Ford City, Pennsylvania, killed during World War Two, was accounted for on January 10, 2023.

And it announced yesterday that US Army Air Forces Tech Sgt John Holoka Jr, 25, of Cresson, Pennsylvania, killed during World War Two, was accounted for on January 24, 2023.

Both airmen are no longer Missing in Action and the news means every member of the crew of the B-24H Liberator that was struck by anti-aircraft after a bombing raid on a German airfield in near Versailles has been accounted for.

The Arundel Bomber: Who were the men and what actually happened?

Seven of them bailed out before the crash at Park Farm and navigator 2nd Lieutenant Herbert K. King, radio operator Sergeant Joseph A. Foley, bombardier 2nd Lieutenant D. M. Henderson, tail gunner Staff Sergeant Edwin J. Sumner, ball turret gunner Staff Sergeant Pearl Toothman and waist gunners Staff Sergeant Richard M. Rodriguez and Staff Sergeant Aaron D. Roper were able to return to duty.

Co-pilot Flight Officer John J. Crowther was listed as Killed in Action and his remains were repatriated but pilot William Montgomery and engineer John Holoka were declared non-recoverable on May 10, 1950, and listed as Missing in Action.

The DPAA said: "To identify Holoka’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis as well as material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used dental, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome (Y-STR) analysis.

"Holoka’s name is recorded on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Cambridge, United Kingdom, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

"Holoka will be buried in Portage, Pennsylvania, on May 1, 2023."

Cold War veteran Mark Khan, was brought in on the recovery mission in Arundel to help the team understand the history of aircraft wreck recovery and the licence process, said the project had been a 100 per cent success.

Dr Keith Levatino, John Holoka's great nephew, said: "I have done a lot of research and have been in contact with Park Farm and other archeologists. My understanding is that it was a jaw bone, with three molar cavities. In one of the molar cavities there was a root of a tooth. That is where the DNA was found."

Dr Levatino, who is superintendent of schools in the Little Falls City School District, explained John Holoka was the younger brother of his grandmother, Mary Cassidy. He recalls hearing about him as a young boy and seeing photographs, and he understood that the loss had been devastating for the family.

Speaking to the Times Telegram, he added: "I read letters they sent asking for clarification, but they never received a reply. They never had any closure."

John Holoka's immediate family had died, so the DPAA asked Dr Levatino for a DNA sample to aid identification. He then watched the recovery mission with interest through news reports and contacted the team involved. He saw us great uncle's chair, facing the turret, and knew he had died in this position.

In the summer of 1944, John Holoka was assigned to the 844th Bombardment Squadron, 489th Bombardment Group (Heavy), Eighth Air Force. On June 22, he was an engineer on a B-24H Liberator that had flown from Halesworth in Suffolk on a tactical bombing mission but sustained severe damage caused by anti-aircraft fire while attacking the target in France.

The only operable controls were one rudder and elevator but William Montgomery used his piloting skill to nurse the aircraft until it was over the English coast. He then ordered his crew to bail out and seven airmen parachuted successfully while the other three crew members were still on board when the aircraft crashed into the farm in Arundel.

Farmer John Seller, who was about ten and living in the farm cottages at the time, saw the heavy bomber nose dive into the ground. The pasture land at Park Farm where the plane crashed was excavated in December 1974 and has been dug up several times since. During these excavations, various aircraft parts, the guns and larger surviving parts, including the engines, prop hubs and armoured seats, were recovered but their whereabouts is now unknown.

The DPAA first visited the site in June 2017, with the permission of the Seller family, which runs the farm, and Mr Khan was brought in to help the team understand the history of aircraft wreck recovery and the licence process.

Further investigation took place in 2019 and in June 2021, work to recover any remains of the crew began, with Mark as co-project investigator on the veterans archaeological excavation over four weeks. The dig happened to coincide with the 77th anniversary of the plane crash, so the team started with a memorial service on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, including a flypast with three Spitfires to honour the missing airmen.

The DPAA explained: "Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), Army Quartermaster Corps, was the organisation tasked with recovering missing American personnel in the European Theater. In November 1947, AGRC investigators searched the area of the crash site but they did not discover the remains of any other crew members."