SACRAMENTO, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The body of a U.S. airman who had been missing since 1942 has been found atop a California glacier.
Peter Stekel, who had been researching the disappearance of a World War II plane and servicemen after they took off from Sacramento, Calif., in 1942, said he discovered the remains of one of the plane's crew on Mendel Glacier in Kings Canyon National Park, the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News reported Monday.
"I thought about this guy's family finally getting closure," Stekel told the newspaper. "I always thought that was a hackneyed phrase, and it is, until you're in a position to understand what it really means.
"My journal from that night says something like 'after 65 years in the glacier, somebody's going to know who you are. You're finally coming home.' "
Military anthropologists are working to identify the remains.
The body of air Cadet Leo Mustonen, who was also aboard the plane, was found on the same glacier two years ago, 50 feet from the newly discovered remains, the Mercury News said.
