WWII airman from Chattanooga identified & accounted for

Sgt. Sanford G. Roy indicated by the red circle / Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) —  A Chattanooga airman’s remains have been identified and accounted for from World War II (WWII).

Sgt. Sanford G. Roy / Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

Sergeant Sanford G. Roy’s remains were accounted for June 20, 2024.

Roy died during WWII at the age of 31.

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), Roy was killed in action (KIA) April 8, 1944 when his plane was shot down by enemy fighter aircraft fire while on a bombing mission to Brunswick, Germany.

Roy was a waist gunner onboard a B-24H “Liberator” Little Joe.

Missing Allied Aircrew Research Team (MAACRT) contacted DPAA with new information regarding a possible crash site near Wistedt, Germany in 2015.

After interviewing elderly local residents, it was determined there were two crash sites, but only one was recovered by American forces post WWII.

The second crash site was located and various pieces of wreckage were recovered.

Sgt. Sanford G. Roy / Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

DPAA also stated that “possible osseous remains were also located and transferred to the DPAA laboratory.”

DPAA investigators returned to the crash site to begin further excavations and recoveries.

“By the end of November 2023, all evidence, including possible osseous remains and possible life support equipment, had been recovered and returned to the DPAA laboratory,” said DPAA.

Scientists from the DPAA used anthropological and dental analysis’s to identify Roy’s remains.

Roy will be buried in Chattanooga on April 8, 2025, on the 81st anniversary of his death.