PROVO, Utah — The remains of a Provo soldier killed during World War II have finally been identified, nearly eight decades after the bomber he was flying in crashed in 1944.
U.S. Army Air Forces Cpl. Merle L. Pickup was on board a B-24J Liberator bomber on its way from China to India when it encountered bad weather and went missing in May of 1944. Pickup was 27 years old at the time of his death.
The American Graves Registration Service attempted to investigate the crash site immediately following the war, but deemed it to be too dangerous of a mission and declared the remains of the crew onboard the plane to be non-recoverable.
A third-party wreck hunter visited the crash site in both 2008 and 2010 and reported seeing wreckage, military equipment and possible human remains, a report confirmed in 2014 by the Pacific Aviation Museum in Honolulu.
An Indian expedition located the site in August 2019 and recovered human remains which were turned over to the Southeastern Archaeological Research, which then gave them to the Indian government.
Following a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the remains found at the crash site were finally repatriated back to the U.S. until March.
Using dental and anthropological analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency were able to identify some of the remains as Pickup.
Pickup will be buried in Provo on Dec. 17.
As his name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery, a rosette will now be placed next to Pickup's name to indicate that his remains have been found.
