FORT KNOX, Ky. — The remains of a Dallas native who served in World War II will soon be buried in East Texas, according to the U.S. Army Human Resources Command.
On July 16, the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. David M. Lewis, a soldier killed during World War II, will be interred at Old Saltillo Cemetery in Saltillo, Texas.
West Oak Funeral Home from Sulphur Springs will perform graveside services before the interment.
A native of Dallas, Texas, Lewis was assigned to the 345th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy) and 9th Air Force. He was piloting a B-24 Liberator aircraft on Aug. 1, 1943, when it crashed after being hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the largest bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, which is north of Bucharest, Romania. Lewis was 20 years old.
His remains could not be identified following the war. Remains that could not be identified were buried as unknowns in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command, which was tasked with recovering fallen American personnel, disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification.
More than 80 unknowns could not be identified and were interred at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, which are both in Belgium.
In 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated with unaccounted-for soldiers from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses, sending the remains to the DPAA Laboratory at the Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska for examination and identification.
Lewis was accounted for by the DPAA on May 11, 2022, after his remains were identified using circumstantial evidence as well as anthropological, mitochondrial DNA, Y chromosome DNA and autosomal DNA analysis.
His name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Impruneta, Italy, along with others still missing from World War II.
A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
For additional information about 2nd Lt. Lewis, you can click here.
To learn more about the Department of Defense’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil.