Exactly 80 years after four crew members were declared missing in action when two Douglas A-26B Invaders were struck down in World War II, Family members gathered at the recently discovered crash sites on March 21, 2025, near Reken, Germany. A memorial stone was unveiled in remembrance of the missing airmen who were finally discovered, along with pieces of the airplane. (U.S. Army photo by Sandra Wilson, USAG Benelux Public Affairs)
Exactly 80 years after four crew members were declared missing in action when two Douglas A-26B Invaders were struck down in World War II, Family members gathered at the recently discovered crash sites on March 21, 2025, near Reken, Germany. A memorial stone was unveiled in remembrance of the missing airmen who were finally discovered, along with pieces of the airplane. (U.S. Army photo by Sandra Wilson, USAG Benelux Public Affairs) (Photo Credit: Sandra Wilson) VIEW ORIGINAL

REKEN, Germany – Missing in Action. Just six weeks before World War II would end, the news came to four U.S. service member Families via telegram. Two Douglas A-26B Invader airplanes were struck down by anti-aircraft defenses on a mission to bomb Dülmen, Germany, on March 21, 1945. Four of the six crewmembers were never found: Staff Sgt. Loring E. Lord (28), Second Lt. Lynn W. Hadfield (26), Sgt. John Kalausich (19), and Sgt. Vernon L. Hamilton (19).

Second Lt. Donald J. Cotton's A-26B Douglas Invader airplane sustained a direct hit on its port wing from German anti-aircraft defenses March 21, 1945, before crashing in a farmer’s field near Reken, Germany. The other plane flying in formation sustained damage and crashed nearby. Two of the six airmen were buried on the spot, but the remaining four were declared missing in action until recent excavations found their remains. Family members gathered at the newly discovered crash sites on March 21, 2025, exactly 80 years later, to memorialize and remember their missing airmen who were finally recovered. (Courtesy photo from the National Archives)
Second Lt. Donald J. Cotton's A-26B Douglas Invader airplane sustained a direct hit on its port wing from German anti-aircraft defenses March 21, 1945, before crashing in a farmer’s field near Reken, Germany. The other plane flying in formation sustained damage and crashed nearby. Two of the six airmen were buried on the spot, but the remaining four were declared missing in action until recent excavations found their remains. Family members gathered at the newly discovered crash sites on March 21, 2025, exactly 80 years later, to memorialize and remember their missing airmen who were finally recovered. (Courtesy photo from the National Archives) (Photo Credit: Sandra Wilson) VIEW ORIGINAL

Exactly 80 years later, Family members gathered at the recently discovered crash sites near Reken, Germany, to unveil a memorial stone and remember their missing airmen who were finally recovered, along with pieces of the airplanes. At the first site, a moment of silence was observed at 12:03 p.m.—the time of the crashes. Family members shared their words of remembrance and thanked those involved in the recovery and the honoring of their airmen.

Family members gather around the newly dedicated memorial stone honoring their service members, who were missing in action for nearly 80 years, at a ceremony near Reken, Germany, on March 21, 2025. The U.S. airmen, on mission to bomb Dülmen, Germany, just six weeks before WWII would end, were recently recovered by a German historian who researched the crashes and found the sites. (U.S. Army photo by Sandra Wilson, USAG Benelux Public Affairs)
Family members gather around the newly dedicated memorial stone honoring their service members, who were missing in action for nearly 80 years, at a ceremony near Reken, Germany, on March 21, 2025. The U.S. airmen, on mission to bomb Dülmen, Germany, just six weeks before WWII would end, were recently recovered by a German historian who researched the crashes and found the sites. (U.S. Army photo by Sandra Wilson, USAG Benelux Public Affairs) (Photo Credit: Sandra Wilson) VIEW ORIGINAL

“This is truly now sacred ground,” said Scott Hadfield, nephew of pilot Hadfield, as he looked out on the crowd of attendees, including local German residents and the mayor. “I did not expect this many people to honor these men.”

Beverly Divita, niece of airplane navigator Kalausich, shared a letter written by her mother in remembrance of her brother. They had not grown up in the same household, so it wasn’t until he visited during his 30 days of leave before deploying overseas that she really got to know him.

“When hugging goodbye I said to myself, ‘I just found my brother and now I’m losing him again,’” she wrote. Then she recalled in the letter the vivid memory of the night they received the telegram that he was missing in action.

Exactly 80 years after four crew members died when two Douglas A-26B Invaders were struck down in World War II, Family members gathered at the recently discovered crash sites on March 21, 2025, near Reken, Germany. A memorial stone was unveiled in remembrance of the missing airmen who were finally discovered, along with pieces of the airplane. (U.S. Army photo by Sandra Wilson, USAG Benelux Public Affairs)
Exactly 80 years after four crew members died when two Douglas A-26B Invaders were struck down in World War II, Family members gathered at the recently discovered crash sites on March 21, 2025, near Reken, Germany. A memorial stone was unveiled in remembrance of the missing airmen who were finally discovered, along with pieces of the airplane. (U.S. Army photo by Sandra Wilson, USAG Benelux Public Affairs) (Photo Credit: Sandra Wilson) VIEW ORIGINAL

The airmen belonged to 642nd Bombardment Squadron, 409th Bombardment Group, Ninth Air Force, United States Army Air Force. The two airplanes flew in formation during that fatal mission when Second Lt. Donald J. Cotton’s plane, with Staff Sgt. Don E. Nord and Lord aboard, sustained a direct blow to the wing of the aircraft by German anti-air defenses. The debris and shrapnel from Cotton’s plane struck Hadfield’s. They both plummeted to the ground killing all six crewmembers aboard.

“[Vern] never had a chance to tell his story to his Family and friends,” said Hamilton’s great niece, Shelley Atkins. “That is why I continue to tell [his] story.”

Seventy-four years after the incident, a military historian and archaeologist, Adolf Hagedorn, discovered information about resident eyewitnesses to the 1945 crash on nearby farmland, and he began searching. The buried plane remnants were positively identified and the farm owner authorized excavations on his land. Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency and the History Flight organization partnered to form a digging team and began the work immediately in the winter of 2016.

The human remains found at the farm field crash site were identified as belonging to Hadfield, Kalausich, and gunner Hamilton. Family members were notified about the positive identification in 2018.

“This must have come as quite a shock as those Families were unaware of the recovery two years prior,” said Danny Keay, conflict archaeologist, forensic osteologist, and team leader of the 2016 excavation. “In some cases, this opened up old wounds which had never completely healed in the first place.”

Missing WWII warfighters found, Families find closure after 80 years
The bugler plays taps next to the American flag marking the farmer’s field where Second Lt. Donald J. Cotton's A-26B Douglas Invader airplane crashed March 21, 1945. Family members gathered at two recently discovered crash sites on March 21, 2025, exactly 80 years later, to memorialize and remember their missing airmen who were finally recovered. (U.S. Army photo by Sandra Wilson, USAG Benelux Public Affairs) (Photo Credit: Sandra Wilson) VIEW ORIGINAL

The remains of the Hadfield crew were repatriated in 2019 and buried with military honors. It was not until that same year that the final member of the Cotton crew, airplane gunner Lord, was discovered at the second crash site in a pasture more than a 20-minute drive from the first.

“I feel like he’s here,” said Amy Hendl, about her great uncle Lord. “I think most of him is because what came home is two small little bones and some very small fragments. They did test the DNA so we know that he was here when he died.”

The bugler plays taps next to the American flag marking the farmer’s field where Second Lt. Donald J. Cotton's A-26B Douglas Invader airplane crashed March 21, 1945. Family members gathered at two recently discovered crash sites on March 21, 2025, exactly 80 years later, to memorialize and remember their missing airmen who were finally recovered. (U.S. Army photo by Sandra Wilson, USAG Benelux Public Affairs)
The bugler plays taps next to the American flag marking the farmer’s field where Second Lt. Donald J. Cotton's A-26B Douglas Invader airplane crashed March 21, 1945. Family members gathered at two recently discovered crash sites on March 21, 2025, exactly 80 years later, to memorialize and remember their missing airmen who were finally recovered. (U.S. Army photo by Sandra Wilson, USAG Benelux Public Affairs) (Photo Credit: Sandra Wilson) VIEW ORIGINAL

Hendl and her husband were given permission to visit the dig site six years ago to witness the recovery efforts underway. This June, Lord’s remains will be buried after repatriation to the U.S. and Family and relatives will celebrate his life and service together as he is finally laid to rest next to his parents’ graves.

“My whole Family talked about him a lot,” said Hendl, great niece of Lord, explaining how all the pictures and letters were saved. “We always knew the story—we just never had closure. And, now we do.”

Some of the Family members and relatives attending these commemorations near Reken had begun their trip days earlier at the airfield in France, retracing the journey of their service members 80 years ago. They stopped at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Belgium and the Netherlands American Cemetery, where a combined 16,000 U.S. service members lay, to see the walls presenting the names of nearly 2,200 Americans whose bodies were never found. As they smoothed sand from the beaches of Normandy over the inscription of their airman’s name, they could now count them among those found and laid to rest.

Missing WWII warfighters found, Families find closure after 80 years
Family members gather around the newly dedicated memorial stone honoring their service members, who were missing in action for nearly 80 years, at a ceremony near Reken, Germany, on March 21, 2025. The U.S. airmen, on mission to bomb Dülmen, Germany, just six weeks before WWII would end, were recently recovered by a German historian who researched the crashes and found the sites. (U.S. Army photo by Sandra Wilson, USAG Benelux Public Affairs) (Photo Credit: Sandra Wilson) VIEW ORIGINAL

“We are trying to give other Families hope … to help find out about their lost loved ones,” said Keay. “These Families here have experienced something they had never hoped to do, and that is not only closure but to walk in the footsteps of their ancestors. It has changed them forever.”

See more photos in the USAG Benelux Flickr album.