BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Wednesday that a former member of the 345th Bombardment Squadron, U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. David M. Lewis, 20, of Dallas, killed during World War II, was accounted for May 11, 2022.
The 345th Bomb Squadron is now at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, as part of the 307th Bomb Wing and 10th Air Force.
On Aug. 1, 1943, the B-24 Liberator aircraft on which Lewis was serving as a pilot crashed as a result of enemy anti-aircraft fire during Operation TIDAL WAVE, the most extensive bombing mission against the oil fields and refineries at Ploiesti, north of
Bucharest, Romania.
His remains were not identified following the war, and he was buried as unknown in the Hero Section of the Civilian and Military Cemetery of Bolovan, Ploiesti, Prahova,
Romania.
Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) disinterred all American remains from the Bolovan Cemetery for identification. However, Lewis was one of 80 remains not identified.
The AGRC interred those remains at Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, both in Belgium.
In 2017, DPAA began exhuming unknowns believed to be associated with unaccounted-for airmen from Operation TIDAL WAVE losses.
These remains were sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for examination and identification.
Lewis will be buried in Saltillo, Texas, on a date yet to be determined.
For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at
(800) 892-2490.
Lewis's personnel profile can be viewed at
https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000Xe7mEAC.