Finding Home: 80 Years After WWII, Missing Pilot John E. McLauchlen Jr. is Finally Buried in Honolulu

In 1947, the remains of eight people involved in a B-24 Liberator crash in Burma were recovered by the American Grave Registration Service. These remains, known as Unknowns X-505A-H, were interred as unknowns in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. After a family request, the remains were disinterred and sent to the DPAA laboratory for analysis. Through anthropological and mtDNA analysis, McLauchlen’s remains were identified and accounted for on Jan. 25, 2024.

80 years ago, World War II soldier 2nd Lt. John E. McLauchlen Jr., from Detroit, was shot down on a bombing mission while flying a B-24J Liberator bomber over Insein Railroad Yard north of Rangoon, Burma. Witnesses reported that his aircraft entered a steep dive and disappeared below the clouds, never to be heard from again. The crew was declared missing in action and their remains were not recovered during the war.

On July 8th at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery in Kansas, 2nd Lt. John E. McLauchlen Jr. will be laid to rest following graveside services conducted by Belden-Larkin Funeral Home after being identified through anthropological and mtDNA analysis following a family request for identification of Unknowns X-505A-H in October 2020 after they were discovered in 1947 as part of an American Grave Registration Service operation to recover remains of those lost during World War II in Burma