Remains of World War II fighter pilot Captain Arthur Lingo identified and returned home
KERN COUNTY, Calif. – On Monday, the Department of Defense's POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced that the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Captain Arthur M. Lingo of Fellows, California -who was killed in action over Germany during World War II- have been identified.
Captain Lingo's family has been briefed on the determination made on Jan. 10, 2025, and he will finally be laid to rest in Arvin, California in October of 2025.
According to a press release from the Department of Defense Monday, Captain Lingo was assigned to 362nd Fighter Squadron, 357th Fighter Group, 66th Fighter Wing, 8th Fighter Command in 1944.
During a bomber escort mission to Sorau, Germany, the P-51 Mustang fighter Cpt. Lingo was piloting was shot down by enemy aircraft and crashed near Miesterhorst in Central Germany detailed German records.
On April 11, 1944, Cpt. Lingo was reported missing in action and a presumptive finding of death was issued by the U.S. Army regarding Cpt. Lingo on Oct. 18, 1945.
The American Graves Restoration Command was tasked with recovering American service members in the European Theater and the team was able to confirm the location of a downed aircraft in 1946 through interviews with local residents and administrative officials explained the Department of Defense.
The aircraft wreckage was located in a bog and serial numbers recovered at the scene matched ones on file for Cpt. Lingo's P-51 Mustang, but the team could not conduct a full excavation of the swampy terrain and Cpt. Lingo was declared non-recoverable on June 14, 1950.
In 2022, a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency team alongside local researcher Werner Oeltjebruns used survey tools courtesy of the U.S. Army Geospatial Command to verify the aircraft crash site and a full excavation of the site was conducted shared the Department of Defense.
Using anthropological analysis as well as circumstantial and recovered material evidence, Cpt. Lingo's remains were confirmed.
Cpt. Lingo's name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands along fellow veterans still missing after World War II.
A rosette has been placed next to Cpt. Lingo's name indicating his remains have been identified and returned home.
