WWII pilot, whose remains were identified 78 years after his death, to be buried at Gap

In May 1944, U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Carl D. Nesbitt was assigned to the 569th Bombardment Squadron, 390th Bombardment Group. The Lima, Ohio, resident flew 19 missions in his first month serving over seas during World War II.

Nesbitt was the pilot of a B-17G Flying Fortress bomber during a huge bombing mission over Leipzig, Germany, on May 29, 1944. Enemy fighters attacked the bomber’s formation about 28 miles northeast Leipzig, and his plane was shot down.

"(Lt. Nesbitt) was shot down by three waves of German fighter planes," The Lima News reported in October 19, 1945.

Before it crashed, six of the 10 member crew were able to escape the plane near Horst. But the rest, including Nesbitt, were killed. Their bodies were believed to have been buried in a local cemetery, according to officials.

"He was awarded the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf clusters, and a Purple Heart," The Lima News reported.

Nesbitt was 23 years old.

But after 78 years, Nesbitt's remains were identified, and he will be laid to rest at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery on May 15.

Officials found the remains of one of the crew members buried in a cemetery in Horst in September 1946. However, the American Graves Registration Command was not allowed to investigated the site further because of worsening diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, that controlled this part of Germany at the time.

Nesbitt was declared non-recoverable April 21, 1953.

But in July 2012, investigators recovered evidence of a B-17 at Nesbitt's crash site. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency excavated the site and in August 2019, recovered possible remains that were sent to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for analysis.

Nesbitt was accounted for in Sept. 9, 2022, after his remains were identified using circumstantial evidence and DNA analysis.