World War II pilot from Georgetown finally accounted for

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Charles W. McCook (US Dept. of Defense)

WASHINGTON - A Georgetown pilot killed during World War II has finally been accounted for, according to the U.S. government.

Pilot accounted for over 80 years after death

What we know:

The U.S. Department of Defense's POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) says that 23-year-old Charles W. McCook, a first lieutenant in the Army Air Forces, was accounted for on April 18.

McCook, who was from Georgetown, was killed during World War II.

In summer 1943, he was a member of the 22nd Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 341st Bombardment Group (Medium), 10th Air Force. On Aug. 3, 1943, while he was the Armor-Gunner of a B-25C on a low-altitude bombing raid in Burma, his plane crashed.

McCook was one of four killed; the two survivors were captured by Japanese forces. His remains were not recovered after the war, and he was declared missing in action.

How he was found

Dig deeper:

In 1947, four sets of remains, later designated X-282A-D, were recovered from a common grave near a Burmese village. Local witnesses said the remains came from an "American crash".

The remains could not be identified at the time and thus were interred as "unknowns" in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In Jan. 2022, all four sets of remains were exhumed and taken to the DPAA for analysis. 

Scientists then used dental, anthropological and isotope analysis to identify his remains. The Armed Forces Medical Examiner System also used mitochondrial DNA analysis and genome sequencing data.

What's next:

McCook will be buried in Georgetown in August.

His name was recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines, along with others missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to show he has been accounted for.