Remains of Army Air Forces Airman who died in WWII identified

The American servicemember who died in the bombing mission to Romania in World War II was found dead. according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Army Air Forces Tech. Sgt. According to the agency Harold Kretzer, 32 years old, was a gunner/engineer assigned the 66th Bombardment Squadron(Heavy), 44th Bombardment Group(Heavy), 8th Air Force.

He was flying a B-24 Liberator Bomber in Operation Tidal Wave, Aug. 1, 1943, when enemy fire hit the bomber and it crashed. This was one 51 aircraft that were destroyed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. did not return from the mission, and Kretzer’s remains were unidentified after the war.

Operation Tidal Wave The Axis wanted to stop oil supplies by attacking the fields and refiners at Ploiesti (north of Bucharest in Romania). The American airmen were able to destroy the refineries but Germany was equipped with anti-aircraft guns that could be used to strafe Ploesti even before the bombers arrived from Libya. according to researchers.

Operation Tidal Wave in Romania saw hundreds of U.S. Army Air Forces pilots die.

Some were later identified by American Graves Registration Command.

From 2012 to 2017, the remains of more 80 American servicemen were interred in Ardennes America Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery. Both are located in Belgium. The DPAA started exhuming remains thought to be related to airmen who were killed in Operation Tidal Wave and moved them to Offutt Air Force Base (Nebraska) for identification.

Agency scientists identified Kretzer’s remains on Aug. 23, 2022, using DNA and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence.

A rosette will be placed next to Kretzer’s name on the Tablets of the Missing at the Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, Italy, to indicate he has been accounted for.

At an undetermined time, he will be buried at Springfield, Illinois.