An army pilot’s plane went down during World War II. He’s been laid to rest 80 years after going missing in action

A 25-year-old World War II pilot who went missing in action 80 years ago during a mission in southeast Asia was given full honors and laid to rest in Kansas earlier this week.

A 25-year-old World War II pilot who went missing in action 80 years ago during a mission in southeast Asia was given full honors and laid to rest in Kansas earlier this week. Second Lt. John E. McLauchlen Jr., of Detroit, was killed during World War II in 1943 while flying during a bombing mission from Panagarh, India, to a railyard near Rangoon, Myanmar – then known as Burma, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. McLauchlen was officially accounted for on January 25, 2024, the agency said. He was buried at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery on July 8 and honored with a B-1 bomber flyover, according to Fort Leavenworth. On December 1, 1943, McLauchlen’s B-24J Liberator bomber plane reached the intended target but was struck by “anti-aircraft fire, causing the left wing to burst into flames,” according to the accounting agency. “My uncle was in charge of the mission that day, so his plane was right in the front, right in the center,” McLauchlen’s nephew, Richard McLauchlen Jr., said in an interview with the US Army published Thursday. “Once they started taking fire, and with that smoking wing, my uncle decided to drop out of the formation so that his plane wouldn’t cause anyone else to be shot down,” Richard McLauchlen Jr., who is a Vietnam veteran, said.